[16 Contd.]
Sowing of rie.
9
Thresh seed and to fanning, September doth crie,
get plough to the field, and be sowing of rie:
To harrow the rydgis, er euer ye strike,E90
is one peece20 of husbandrie Suffolk doth like.
10
Sowe timely thy whitewheat, sowe rie in the dust,
let seede haue his longing, let soile haue hir lust:
Let rie be partaker of Mihelmas spring,
to beare out the hardnes that winter doth bring.
Myslen .
1121
Some mixeth to miller the rie with the wheat,
Temmes lofe on his table to haue for to eate:
But sowe it not mixed, to growe so on land,
least rie tarie wheat, till it shed as it stand.
12
If soile doe desire to haue rie with the wheat,
by growing togither, for safetie more great,
Let white wheat be ton, be it deere, be it cheape,
the sooner to ripe, for the sickle to reape.
Sowing.
13
Though beanes be in sowing but scattered in,
yet wheat, rie, and peason, I loue not too thin:
Sowe barlie and dredge,E91 with a plentifull hand,
least weede, steed of seede, ouer groweth thy land.
Kéeping of crowes.
1422
No sooner a sowing, but out by and by,
with mother23 or boy that Alarum can cry:
And let them be armed with sling or with bowe,
to skare away piggen, the rooke and the crowe.E92
Water furrough.
15
Seed sowen, draw a forrough, the water to draine,
and dike vp such ends as in harmes24 doe remaine:
For driuing of cattell or rouing that waie,
which being preuented, ye hinder their praie.
Amend marsh walles.
16
Saint Mihel25 doth bid thee amend the marsh wal,E93
the brecke and the crab hole, the foreland and al:
One noble in season bestowed theron,
may saue thee a hundred er winter be gon.
Gelding of rams.
17
Now geld with the gelder the ram and the bul,
sew ponds, amend dammes, and sel webster thy wul:
Out fruit go and gather, but not in the deaw,
with crab and the wal nut, for feare of a shreaw.
Gathering of fruit.
18
The Moone in the wane, gather fruit for to last,
but winter fruit gather when Mihel is past:
Though michers that loue not to buy nor to craue,
makes some gather sooner, else few for to haue.
Too early gathering is not best.
19
Fruit gathred too timely wil taste of the wood,
wil shrink26 and be bitter, and seldome prooue good:
So fruit that is shaken, or beat off a tree,
with brusing in falling, soone faultie wil bee.
Driuing of hiues.
20
Now burne vp the bees that ye mind for to driue,
at Midsomer driue them and saue them aliue:
Place hiue in good ayer, set southly and warme,
and take in due season wax, honie, and swarme.
Preseruing of bées.
21
Set hiue on a plank, (not too low by the ground)
where herbe with the flowers may compas it round:
And boordes to defend it from north and north east,
from showers and rubbish, from vermin and beast.
Stie up the bore.
22
At Mihelmas safely go stie vp thy Bore,
least straying abrode, ye doo see him no more:
The sooner the better for Halontide nie,
and better he brawneth if hard he doo lie.E94
23
Shift bore (for il aire) as best ye do thinke,
and twise a day giue him fresh vittle and drinke:
And diligent Cislye, my dayrie good wench,
make cleanly his cabben, for measlingE95 and stench.
Gathering of winter hempe.
24
Now pluck vp thy hempe, and go beat out the seed,
and afterward water it as ye see need:
But not in the riuer where cattle should drinke,
for poisoning them and the people with stinke.E96
Whitest hempe best sold.
25
Hempe huswifely vsed lookes cleerely and bright,
and selleth it selfe by the colour so whight:
Some vseth to water it, some do it not,27
be skilful in dooing, for feare it do rot.
Setting of strawberies & roses, &c.
26
Wife, into thy garden, and set me a plot,
with strawbery rootes, of the best to be got:
Such growing abroade, among thornes in the wood,
wel chosen and picked prooue excellent good.
Gooseberies & Respis.
27
The Barbery, Respis, and Goosebery too,
looke now to be planted as other things doo:
The Goosebery, Respis, and Roses, al three,
with Strawberies vnder them trimly agree.
Gathering of mast.
28
To gather some mast, it shal stand thee vpon,
with seruant and children, er mast be al gon:
Some left among bushes shal pleasure thy swine,
for feare of a mischiefe keepe acorns fro kine.E97
Rooting of hogs.
29
For rooting of pasture ring hog ye had neede,
which being wel ringled the better do feede:
Though yong with their elders wil lightly keepe best,
yet spare not to ringle both great and the rest.
Yoking of swine.
30
Yoke seldom thy swine while the shacktime28 doth last,
for diuers misfortunes that happen too fast:
Or if ye do fancie whole eare of the hog,
giue eie to il neighbour and eare to his dog.
Hunting of hogs.
31
Keepe hog I aduise thee from medow and corne,
for out aloude crying that ere he was borne:
Such lawles, so haunting, both often and long,
if dog set him chaunting he doth thee no wrong.E98
Ringling of hogs.
32
Where loue among neighbors do beare any stroke,
whiles shacktime indureth men vse not to yoke:
Yet surely ringling is needeful and good,
til frost do enuite them to brakes in the wood.
Carriage of brakes.
3329
Get home with thy brakes, er an sommer be gon,
for teddered cattle to sit there vpon:
To couer thy houel, to brewe and to bake,
to lie in the bottome, where houel ye make.
Sawe out thy timber.
34
Now sawe out thy timber, for boord and for pale,
to haue it vnshaken,E99 and ready to sale:
Bestowe it and stick it,30 and lay it aright,
to find it in March, to be ready in plight.
Slabs of timber.
35
Saue slab31 of thy timber for stable and stie,
for horse and for hog the more clenly to lie:
Saue sawe dust, and brick dust, and ashes so fine,
for alley to walke in, with neighbour of thine.
Hedge breakers.
36
Keepe safely and warely thine vttermost fence,
with ope gap and breake hedge do seldome dispence:
Such runabout prowlers, by night and by day,
see punished iustly for prowling away.
Learne to knowe Hew prowler.
37
At noone if it bloweth, at night if it shine,
out trudgeth Hew make shift, with hooke & with line:E100
Whiles Gillet, his blouse, is a milking thy cow,
Sir Hew is a rigging thy gate or the plow.
Black or red dogs.
38
Such walke with a black or a red little cur,
that open wil quickly, if anything stur;
Then squatteth the master, or trudgeth away,
and after dog runneth as fast as he may.
39
Some prowleth for fewel, and some away rig
fat goose, and the capon, duck, hen, and the pig:
Some prowleth for acornes, to fat vp their swine,
for corne and for apples, and al that is thine.
Thus Endeth Septembers Husbandrie32
* * * Many stanzas do not occur or are not in the same order in 1577.
Notes
1 In 1577 these and similar couplets at the beginning of each month’s Husbandrie, precede the month’s Abstract instead.
2 Sts. 1 and 2 not in 1577.
3 Mighelmas. 1577.
4 coefers. 1577.
5 rakged. 1577.
6 at hyt. 1577.
7 Or borow with sorow as long as thou wilt. 1577.
8 liened. 1577.
9 To pare horse’s hoofs with.-T.R.
10 “Clouting is arming the Axle-Tree with Iron plates.”—T.R.
11 “Arming the Fellowes with Iron Strakes, or a Tire as some call it.”—T.R. Strakes are segments of a tire.
12 “Of a tough piece of Whitleather.”—T.R.
13 “Lightest and coolest, but indeed not so comly as those of Wadmus.”—T.R.
14 St. 15 not in 1577, but as follows:—
Rakes also for barley, long toothed in bed,
and greater like toothed for barley so shed.
and first couplet of st. 16.
15 St. 16 not thus in 1577; see note above, and next note.
16 In 1577 the second couplet of st. 16 makes a stanza with the following:
Strong fetters and shakles, with horslock and pad;
Strong soles, and such other thinges, meete to be had.
17 Hog yokes, and a twicher, and ringes for a hog,
with tar in a pot, for the byeting of dog. 1577.
18 St. 19 not in 1577.
19 St. 20 not in 1577.
20 This point of good husbandry, etc. 1577.
21 St. 11 not in 1577.
22 Sts. 14 and 15 not in 1577, but nine stanzas which do not occur here.
23 Cf. ante, ch. 17, st. 13 and note E85.
24 Cf. post, ch. 19, st. 6.
25 Mighel, here and in st. 18. 1577.
26 “If Fruit stand too long it will be mealy, which is worse than shrively, for now most Gentlemen chuse the shriveled Apple.”—T.R.
27 “Ther is a Water-retting and a Dew-retting, which last is done on a good Rawing, or aftermath of a Meadow Water.”—T.R.
28 “After Harvest.”—T.R.
29 This is placed before st. 9 in 1577.
30 “Laying the Boards handsomely one upon another with sticks between.”—T.R.
31 The outermost piece.
32 Cf. note 12, p. 33.