21 — ¶ Nouembers Husbandrie
Chap. 19
Nouember take flaile,
Let ship no more saile.
Forgotten month past,
Doe now at the last.
Slaughter time.
1
At Hallontide, slaughter time entereth in,
and then doth the husbandmans feasting begin
From thence vnto shroftide kill now and then some,
their offal for houshold the better wil come.E120
Dredge is otes and barlie.
2
Thy dredge and thy barley go thresh out to malt,
let malster be cunning, else lose it thou shalt:
Thencrease of a seame is a bushel for store,
bad else is the barley, or huswife much more.
Winnowing, fanning, and casting.
3
Some vseth to winnow,1 some vseth to fan,
some vseth to cast it as cleane as they can:
For seede goe and cast it, for malting not so,
but get out the cockle,2 and then let it go.E121
Threshing of barlie.
4
Thresh barlie as yet but as neede shal require,
fresh threshed for stoouer thy cattel desire:
And therefore that threshing forbeare as ye may,
till Candelmas comming, for sparing of hay.
5
Such wheat as ye keepe for the baker to buie,
vnthreshed till March in the sheafe let it lie,
Least foistnes take it if sooner yee thresh it,
although by oft turning ye seeme to refresh it.E122
Chaffe of corne.
6
Saue chaffe of the barlie, of wheate, and of rie,
from feathers and foistines, where it doth lie,
Which mixed with corne, being sifted of dust,
go giue to thy cattel, when serue them ye must.
73
Greene peason or hastings at Hallontide sowe,
in hartie good soile he requireth to growe:
Graie peason or runciuals cheerely to stand,
at Candlemas sowe, with a plentifull hand.
8
Leaue latewardly rering, keepe now no more swine,
but such as thou maist, with the offal of thine:
Except ye haue wherewith to fat them away,
the fewer thou keepest, keepe better yee may.
9
To rere vp much pultrie, and want the barne doore,
is naught for the pulter and woorse for the poore.
So, now to keepe hogs and to sterue them for meate,
is as to keepe dogs for to bawle in the streate.
10
As cat a good mouser is needfull in house,
because for hir commons she killeth the mouse,
So rauening curres, as a meany doo keepe,
makes master want meat, and his dog to kill sheepe.E123
Martilmas beefe.
11
(For Easter) at Martilmas hang vp a beefe,
for stalfed and pease fed plaie pickpurse the theefe:
With that and the like, er an grasse biefe come in,
thy folke shal looke cheerelie when others looke thin.
¶ Set garlike and beanes.
12
Set garlike and beanes, at S. Edmond4 the king,
the moone in the wane, thereon hangeth a thing:E124
Thencrease of a pottle (well prooued of some)
shal pleasure thy houshold er peskod time come.
Threshing.
13
When raine is a let to thy dooings abrode,
set threshers a threshing to laie on good lode:
Thresh cleane ye must bid them, though lesser they yarn,
and looking to thriue, haue an eie to thy barne.
Cattle beaters.
14
Take heede to thy man in his furie and heate,
with ploughstaff and whipstock, for maiming thy neate:
To thresher for hurting of cow with his flaile,
or making thy hen to plaie tapple vp taile.E125
Corne stealers.
15
Some pilfering thresher will walke with a staffe,
will carrie home corne as it is in the chaffe,
And some in his bottle of leather so greatE126
will carry home daily both barlie and wheat.
Kéepe dry thy straw.
16
If houseroome will serue thee, lay stouer vp drie,
and euerie sort by it selfe for to lie.
Or stack it for litter, if roome be too poore,
and thatch out the residue noieng thy doore.5
Euery wéeke rid thy barne flower.
17
Cause weekly thy thresher to make vp his flower,
though slothfull and pilferer thereat doo lower:
Take tub for a season, take sack for a shift,
yet garner for graine is the better for thrift.
18
All maner of strawe that is scattered in yard,
good husbandlie husbands haue daily regard,
In pit full of water the same to bestowe,
where lieng to rot, thereof profit may growe.
Digging of hedlonds.
19
Now plough vp thy hedlond,6 or delue it with spade,
where otherwise profit but little is made:
And cast it vp high, vpon hillocks to stand,
that winter may rot it, to compas thy land.
Trenching of garden.
20
If garden requier it, now trench it ye may,
one trench not a yard from another go lay:
Which being well filled with muck by and by,
go couer with mould for a season to ly.
Clensing of priuies.
21
Foule priuies are now to be clensed and fide,
let night be appointed such baggage to hide:
Which buried in garden, in trenches alowe,
shall make very many things better to growe.
Sootie chimneyes.
22
The chimney all sootie would now be made cleene,
for feare of mischances, too oftentimes seene:
Old chimney and sootie, if fier once take,
by burning and breaking, soone mischeefe may make.E127
Put horse into stable.
23
When ploughing is ended, and pasture not great,
then stable thy horses, and tend them with meat:
Let season be drie when ye take them to house,
for danger of nittes, or for feare of a louse.E128
Sauing of doong.
24
Lay compas vp handsomly, round on a hill,
to walke in thy yard at thy pleasure and will,
More compas it maketh and handsom the plot,
if horsekeeper daily forgetteth it not.
257
Make hillocks of molehils, in field thorough out,
and so to remaine, till the yeere go about.
Make also the like whereas plots be too hie,
all winter a rotting for compas to lie.
Thus Endeth Nouembers Husbandrie
Notes
1 winnew. 1557.
2 “If the Cockle be left in, it will work, and some say make the Drink the stronger.”—T.R.
3 Stanzas 7-10 are not in 1577.
4 20th November.
5 “The rest may lie in the open Yard, for the Cattle to tread into Dung, which is the practice now a days, so that our Farmers are not so afraid of noying their Doors it seems as formerly, and that not without good reason.”—T.R.
6 T.R. thinks that here is meant “such Ground in Common Field-land, which the whole Shot (or parcel of Land belonging to many Men against which it lies) turn upon.”
7 St. 25 is not in 1577.