Thomas Tusser

500 good points of Husbandrie

FEBRUARIES ABSTRACT

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FEBRUARIES ABSTRACT

 

LAY compas ynow,       To oxen that drawe,

er ever ye plow.       give hay and not strawe.

          To steeres ye may

Place doong heapes alowe,     mixe strawe with hay.

more barlie to growe.

          Much carting, ill tillage,

Eat etch er ye plow,       makes som to flie village.

with hog sheep and cow.

Sowe lintels ye may,       Use cattle aright,

and peason gray.       to keepe them in plight.

Keepe white unsowne,

till more be knowne.       Good quickset bie,

          old gatherd will die.

Sow pease (good trull)

the Moone past full.       Stick bows a rowe,

Fine seedes then sowe,     where runcivals growe.

whilst Moone doth growe.

          Sowe kirnals and hawe,

Boy, follow the plough,     where ridge ye did drawe.

and harrow inough.

So harrow ye shall,       Sowe mustard seed,

till coverd be all.       and helpe to kill weed.

          Where sets do growe,

Sowe pease not too thin,     see nothing ye sowe.

er plough ye set in.

          Cut vines and osier,

Late sowen sore noieth,     plash hedge of enclosure.

late ripe, hog stroieth.       Feed highly thy swan,

          to love hir good man.

Some provinder save       Nest high I advise,

for plowhorse to have.       least floud doe arise.

 

Lnad meadow spare,         Let wheat and the rie,

there doong is good ware.       for thresher still lie.

            Such strawe some save,

Go strike off the nowles,       for thacker to have.

of delving mowles.

Such hillocks in vaine         Poor cunnie, so bagged,

lay levelled plaine.         is soone over lagged.

            Plash burrow, set clapper,

To wet the land,         for dog is a snapper.

let mowle hill stand

            Good flight who loves,

Poore cattle crave         must feed their doves.

some shift to have.         Bid hauking adew,

            cast haule into mew.

Cow little giveth

that hardly liveth.         Keepe sheepe out of briers,

            keepe beast out of miers.

Rid barlie al now,         Keepe lambes from fox,

cleane out of thy mow.       else shepherd go box.

Choice seed out drawe,

save cattle the strawe.         Good neighbour mine,

            now yoke thy swine.

To coast man ride         Now everie day,

Lent stuffe to provide.         Set hops ye may.

 

OTHER SHORT         Nowe set for thy pot,

REMEMBRANCES         best herbes to be got.

 

Trench medow and redge,       For flowers go set,

dike, quickset, and hedge.       all sorts ye can get.

To plots not full,

ad bremble and hull.         As winter doth proove,

            so may ye remoove.

Watch ponds, go looke,       Now all things reare,

to weeles and hook,         for all the yeare

Knaves seld repent         

to steale in Lent.         Alls fish they get,

            that cometh to net.

            Who muck regards,

            makes hillocks in yards.

 

 

 

FEBUARIES HUSBANDRIES

 

WHO laieth on doong er he laieth on plow,

such husbandrie useth as thrift doth alow.

One month er ye spred it, so still let it stand,

er ever to plow it, ye take it in hand.

 

Place doong heap a low by the furrough along,

where water all winter time did it such wrong.

So make ye the land to be lustie and fat,

and corne thereon sowen be better for that.

 

Go plow in the stubble, for now is the season,

for sowing of fitchis, of beanes and of peason.

Sowe runcivals timelie, and all that be gray,

but sowe not the white till S. Gregories day.

 

Sowe peason and beanes in the wane of the Moone,

who soweth them sooner, he soweth too soone.

That they with the planet may rest and arise,

and flourish with bearing most plentifull wise.

 

Friend, harrow in time, by some maner of meanes,

not only thy peason but also thy beanes.

Unharrowed die, being buried in clay,

where haoowed flourish, as flowers in May.

 

Both peason and beanes sowe afore ye doo plow,

the sooner ye harrow the better for yow.

White peason so good for the purse and the pot:

let them be well used else weel doo ye not.

 

Have eie unto harvest what ever ye sowe,

for feare of mischances of riping too slow.

Least corne be destroied, contrarie to right,

by hogs or by cattel, by day or by night.

 

Good provender labouring horses would have.,

good haie and good plentie, plow oxen doo crave.

To hale out the muck and to plow up thy ground:

or else it will hinder thee many a pound.

 

Who slacketh his tillage, a carter to bee,

for grote got abrode, at home loss shall three.

And so by his dooing he brings out of hart

both land for the corne and horse for the cart.

 

Who abuseth his cattle and serves then for meat,

by carting or plowing, his gaine is not great.

When he that with labour can use them aright,

hath gain to his comfort and cattle in plight.

 

Buie quickset at market, new gatherd and small,

buie bushes or willow, to fence it withall.

Set willows to growe, in the steede of a stake,

for cattel in sommer, a shadow to make.

 

Stick plentie of bows among runcivall pease

to climber thereon, and to catch at their ease.         Runcival peason.

So dooing, more tender and greater they wex,

if peacock and turkey leave jobbing their bex.

 

Now sowe and go harrow (where redge ye did draw)

the seed of the bremble, with kernell and haw.

Which covered overlie, soone to shut out,

go see it be ditched and fenced about.

 

Where banks be amended and newly upcast,         Sowe mustard seede

sow mustard seed after a shower be past.

Where plots full of nettles be noisome to eie,

sowe thereupon hempseed, and nettle will die.

 

The vines and the osiers cut and go set,         Cut or set vines

if grape be unpleasant, a better go get.

Feed swan and go make hir up strongly a nest,

for feare of a floud, good and high is the best.

 

Land meadow that yearly is spared for hay,         Catching of mowls

noe fence it and spare it, and doong it ye may.

Get mowle catcher cunninglie mowle for to kill,

and haoow and cast abrode everie hill.

 

Where meadow or pasture to mowe ye doo laie,

let mowle be despatched some maner of waie,

The cast abrode mowlhill, as flat as ye can,

for many commodities following than.

 

If pasture by nature is given to be wet,

then bare with the mowlhill, though thick it be set.

That lambe may sit on it, and so to sit drie,

or else to lie by it, the warmer to lie.

 

Friend, alway let this be a part of thy care,         Looke well to thy fence

for shift of good pasture, lay pasture to spare.

So have you good feeding, in bushets and lease,

and quickly safe finding of cattel at ease.

 

Where cattel may run about, roving at wil,

from pasture to pasture, poor bellie to fil,

There pasture and cattel both hungrie and bare,

for want of good husbandrie worser do fare.

 

Now thresh out thy barlie, for malt or for seed,

for bread corne (as need be) to serve as shall need.

If worke for the thresher ye mind for to have,

of wheat and of mestlen untreshed go save.

 

Now timlie for Lent stuffe thy monie disburse,

the longer ye tarie for profit the wurse,

If one pennie vantage be therin to save,

of coast man of fleming be sure to have.