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It is found by daily experience, not only in forein parts, but in our own Country, that a very great Improvement may be made on the greater part of our Lands, by altering the species of such Vegetables that are naturally produced, totally suppressing the one, and propagating another in its place, which may rejoyce
and thrive better there than that before, as we evidently see by Corn sowen on Land where hardly Grass would have grown, what a Crop you reap; but these are but Annuals: that which raises the greatest advantage to the Husbandman, is what annu∣ally yields its increase without a renovation of expence in Ploughing and sowing; as we finde in the Clover-grass or great Trefoyl, St. Foyn or Holy-Hay, La Lucern, Spurrey-seed, Trefoyl, None-such, &c. whereof apart.
This Grass hath born the name, and is esteemed the most prin∣cipal of Grass, both for the great Improvement it brings by its prodigious Burthen, and by the excellencie of the Grass or Hay for Food for Cattle, and is much sowen and used in Flan∣ders and in Holland, Presidents to the whole world for good Husbandry.
In Brabant they speak of keeping four Cows Winter and Sum∣mer on an Acre, some cut and laid up for Fodder, others cut and eaten green: here in England they say an Acre hath kept four Coach-horses and more all Summer long; but if it kept but two Cows, it is advantage enough upon such Lands as never kept one. You may mow the first Crop in the midst or end of May, and lay that up for Hay; if it grow not too strong, it will be exceeding good and rich, and feed any thing: then reserve the next for Seed, which may yield four Bushels upon an Acre, each Bushel being worth three or four pound a Bushel, which will amount to the reputed value of ten or twelve pounds per Acre; and after that Crop also it may be fed. It hath also this Property, that after the growing of the Clover-grass three or four years, it will so frame the Earth, that it will be very fit for Corn again, which will prove a very great Advantage, and then again for Clover. Thus far Mr. Blith. Others say it will last five years, and then also yield three or four years together rich Crops of Wheat, and after that a Crop of Oats.
In the Annotations upon Mr. Hartlibs Legacie, we finde several Computations of the great Advantage hath been made by sowing Clover-grass, as that a parcel of Ground, a little above two Acres, the second year, did yield in May two Load of Hay worth five pounds: the next Crop for Seed was ripe in August, and yielded three very great Loads worth nine pounds that year; the Seed was 300 l. which with the Hay was valued at thirty pounds, be∣sides the after-Pasture. Another President is, that on four Acres there grew twelve Loads of Hay at twice mowing, and twenty Bushels of Seed; one Load of the Hay mown in May being worth two Load of the best of other Hay, and the After-pasture three times better than any other; the four Acres yielded in one year fourscore pound. Another, that six Acres of Clover did maintain for half a year thirteen Cows, ten Oxen, three Horses, and twen∣ty six Hogs; which was valued at forty pound, besides the Win∣ter-Herbage.
The aforesaid Presidents and Valuations seem prodigious, un∣less a rich, light Land, warm and dry, be sown therewith, in which
it principally delighteth; and then it may probably answer the said Valuations, and must needs be a very high Improvement, al∣though the Ground were good and profitable before. It will also prosper and thrive on any Corn-land, well manured or soiled, and brought into perfect Tillage. Old Land, be it course or rich, long untilled is best for Corn, and best and most certain for Clo∣ver-Grass; and when you have Corned your Land as much as you intend, then to sowe it with Clover is the properest season: Land too rich for Corn, cannot be too rich for Clover. Poor Lands are not fit for Clover, unless burnt or denshired, as we shall hereafter direct; or limed, marled, or otherwise manured, and then will it bring forth good Clover.
An Acre of Ground will take about ten pounds of your Clover-Grass Seed, which is in measure somewhat above half a peck, ac∣cording to Sir Richard Weston. The quantity of Seed for an Acre Mr. Blith conceives will be a Gallon, or nine or ten pounds; which agrees with the other: But if it be husky (which saves labour in cleansing of it, and also sowes better by filling the hand, than mix∣ed with any other thing) you must endeavor to finde out a true proportion according to the cleanness or foulness you make it: but be sure to sowe enough, rather too much than too little; for the more there is, the better it shadows the Ground: Some have sowen fifteen pound on an Acre with good success; ten pound some judge to be of the least, however let the Seed be new and of the best, which the English is esteemed to be.
The usual way is thus advised: when you have fitted your Land by Tillage and good Husbandry, then sowe your Barley and Oats, and harrow them; then sowe your Clover-grass upon the same Land, and cover it over with a small Harrow or Bush, but sowe not the Corn so thick as at other times the Land usually requires. The principal seasons for the sowing thereof are the end of March, and throughout April. Sir Richard Weston adviseth to sowe the Clover-seed when the Oats begin to come up; also that you may sowe it alone without any other Seed or Grain, and that it will be ready to cut by the first of June the first year. It is also observed that Polish Oats are the best Corn to be sowen with Clover about the middle of April: two Bushels and a half, or three Bushels to an Acre, which will yield a middle Crop of Oats at Harvest, and shadow the Clover from the heat of the Sun; which will be a no∣table Pasture in September or October following.
About the midst or end of May, may you cut the first Crop for Hay; which takes up more time and labour to dry it than ordi∣nary Hay, and will go very near together: yet if it grow not too strong, it will be exceeding rich and good, and feed any thing. The exact time of cutting is when it begins to knot, and then will it yield good Hay, and ere the year be about it may yield you three such Crops; and afterwards feed it with Cattle all the Winter, or until January, as you do other Ground: But if you intend to pre∣serve the Seed, then you must expect but two Crops that year; the first Crop as before, but the second must stand till the Seed be
come to a full and dead ripeness, for it will not be very apt to shed. When first you can observe the Seed in the Husk, about a moneth after it may be ripe, and then the Seed begins to change its colour, and the Stalk begins to die and turn brown; and being turned to a yellowish colour, in a dry time mow it, and preserve it till it be perfectly dry. In some years it ripens sooner than in o∣ther, therefore you need not be precise as to the time, but to the ripeness of it. The Stalks or Hawm after you have thrashed out your Seed, Cattle will eat; but if they be too old and hard they will not. Some direct to boyl them, and make a Mash of them, and it will be very nourishing, either for Hogs, or any thing that will eat thereof. Others reject the Stalks as useless, and esteem the Seed only to be a sufficient Advance of that Crop. If after two years standing of Clover-grass you suffer the later Crop to shed its Seed, you will have your Land new stored with Clover, that you need not convert it to other uses.
One Acre of this Grass will feed you as many Cows as six Acres of other common Grass, and you will finde your Milk much rich∣er, and exceeding in quantity, and fatterns very well: The best way of feeding of it, and as is reported is the usual way in Hol∣land and Flanders, is to cut it daily as your Cattle spend it, and give it them in Racks under some Trees, or in some Shed or Out∣house, for the Cattle will injure it much with their feet, it being a gross sort of Vegetable. Unless you mow it for the Seed, the best husbandry is to graze it, or feed it in Racks; because it is so ex∣cellent a Food green, and shrinks so much in the drying. Swine will grow fat with what falls from the Racks. It is not good to let Cattle that are not used to this Food, eat too liberally of it at the first; for I knew a Yoke of Oxen put hungry into a field of Clo∣ver-grass, where they fed so heartily on this sweet Food, that one immediately died through a meer Surfeit, the other with difficul∣ty preserved; therefore some prescribe to give them a little Straw mixed therewith at the first, or to diet them as to the quantity, may do as well. Swine will pasture on it in the fields.
It being preserved throughly dry, about the middest of March thrash it, and cleanse it from the Straw as much as you can; then beat the Husk again, being exceeding well dried in the Sun after the first Thrashing, and then get out what Seed you can; or after you have thrashed it, and chaved it with a fine Rake, and sunned it in a hot and dry season, if you will then rub it, you may get very much out of it; some have this way got above two Bushels out of an Acre: Sir Richard Weston saith you may have five Bush∣els from an Acre.
He is a good Thrasher that can thrash six Gallons in a day, and after the second Thrashing, drying, and winnowing or chaving, it is confidently averred that it may be purely separated from its Husk by a Mill, after the manner as Oatmeal is separated from the Chaff, and that at a very easie rate: But it is also experimented that our own Seed sown in the Husk hath proved the best, thick∣er, and certainer than that sowed of the pure Seed it self, other∣wise
you must be forced to mix therewith ashes of Wood or Coals coursly sifted, or with Saw-dust, or good Sand, or fine Mould, or any thing else that will help to fill the hand, that you may sowe it evenly and with a full hand. Some have invented new ways of separating the Seed from the Husk.
This St. Foyn, or Holy-hay, hath in several places of England obtained the preferrence above Clover-Grass, for that it thrives so well, and is so great an Improvement on our barren Lands, where the other will not; it being also natural to our timorous Rusticks not to hazard Land that will yield them any considerable advan∣tage any other way, on any new method of Husbandry; but if they have a Corner of Land that is of little use to them, they will perhaps bestow a little Seed on it, and but few of that minde nei∣ther. Then it continues longer in proof than Clover-Grass, which wears out in a few years; this continues many, which is a daily provocation to the sloathful to go so near and plain a way, when so long time trodden before his face. In Wiltshire in several pla∣ces there are Presidents of St. Foyn, that hath been these twenty years growing on poor Land, and hath so far improved the same, that from a Noble per Acre, twenty acres together have been constantly worth thirty shillings per Acre, and yet continues in good proof.
If it be sowen on the poorest and barrennest Land we have, it will thrive, and raise a very considerable Improvement, for on rich Land the Weeds destroy it; besides, it meliorateth and fer∣tilizeth the Land whereon it hath stood for many years, and not barrennizeth it, as it usual with Annual Seeds. You may break it up, and sowe it with Corn till it be out of heart, and then sowe it with St. Foyn as formerly: it will thrive on dry and bar∣ren Grounds where hardly any thing else will; the roots being great and deep, are not so soon dried by the parching heat of the Sun, as of other Grasses they are.
It must be sowen in far greater quantity than the Clover-seed, because the Seed is much larger and lighter. It may be sowen with Oats or Barley, as the Clover: about equal parts with the Grain you sowe it will serve; always remembring you sowe your Grain but thin. Be sure you make your Ground fine for this and other French Seeds, as you usually do for Barley. Fear not the sowing of the Seeds too thick; for being thick they sooner stock the Ground, and destroy all other Grasses and Weeds. Some advise to howe these Seeds in, like Pease in Ranges, though not so far distant, the better to destroy the Weeds between it: this will bear this way of husbandry better than the Clover, because that hath but a small Root, and requires to shadow the Ground more than this. Feed it not the first year, because the sweetness thereof will provoke the Cattle to bite too near the Ground, very much to the injury of your St. Foyn; but you may mow it with your Barley or Oats, or if sown by it self, the first year.
In the next place this Plant La Lucerne is commended for an excellent Fodder, and by some preferred before St. Foyn, as be∣ing very advantageous to dry and barren Grounds. It is mana∣ged like the former Seeds: Some write that it requires a moist Ground and rich, others a dry, so that we may conclude it hath proved well on all. The Land must be well dressed, and three times fallowed.
The time for sowing it, is after the cold weather be over, a∣bout the middle of April; some Oats may be sowen therewith, but in a small proportion: the Seed is very small; therefore the sixth part of it is allotted to an Acre, as is required of any other Grain, one Bushel thereof going as far as six of Corn: It may be mowen twice a year, and fed all the Winter; the Hay must be well dried and housed, for it is otherwise bad to keep. It is good for all kinde of Cattle; but above all, it agreeth best with Horses: it feedeth much more than ordinary Hay, that lean Beasts are sud∣denly fat with it; it causeth abundance of Milk in Milch-beasts. It must be given at the first with caution, as before we directed concerning the Clover, that is mixed with Straw or Hay. You may also feed all sorts of Cattel with it green all the Summer. It is best to mow it but once a year: it will last ten or twelve years. If you desire the Seed when it is ripe, cut off the tops in a dewy morning, and put into sheets for fear of losing the Seed; and when they are dry, thrash them thereon, the remaining Stalks may be mowen for Hay. By eating this Grass in the Spring, Hor∣ses are purged and made fat in eight or ten days time. One Acre will keep three Horses all the year long. Hartlibs Legacie.
Of the Clover-grass.
English Im∣prover.
The best Land for Clover-grass.
Quantity of Seed for an Acre.
The time and manner of sowing Clover-grass.
Of cutting it for Hay and for seed.
Sir Richard Weston.
Of pasturing or feeding of Clo∣ver-grass.
Of threshing or ordering the Seed.
English Impro∣ver.
The profit there∣of.
On what Land to sowe it.
Quantity of Seed on an A∣cre, and man∣ner of sowing of it.
What Ground it requires.
Time and man∣ner of sowing of it.
Its use.