48 — ¶ Aprils Husbandrie
Chap. 38
Swéete April showers,
Doo spring Maie flowers.
Forgotten month past,
Doe now at the last.
11
In Cambridge shire forward to Lincolne shire way,
the champion maketh his fallow in May.
Then thinking so dooing one tillage woorth twaine,
by forcing of weede, by that meanes to refraine.
2
If April be dripping, then doo I not hate,
(for him that hath little) his fallowing late,
Else otherwise fallowing timelie is best,
for sauing of cattel, of plough and the rest.
3
Be suer of plough to be readie at hand,
er compas ye spred that on hillocks did stand:
Least drieing so lieing, doo make it decaie,
er euer much water doo wash it awaie.
4
Looke now to prouide ye of meadow for hay,
if fennes be vndrowned, there cheapest ye may.2
In fen for the bullock, for horse not so well,
count best the best cheape,E284 wheresoeuer ye dwell.
5
Prouide ye of cowmeate, for cattel at night,
and chiefly where commons lie far out of sight:
Where cattel lie tied without any meat,
that profit by dairie can neuer be great.
Put poles to your hophils.
6
Get into thy hopyard with plentie of poles,
amongst those same hillocks deuide them by doles.
Three poles to a hillock3 (I pas not how long)4
shall yeeld thee more profit, set deeplie and strong.
Felling of timber.
7
Sell barke to the tanner er timber yee fell,
cut lowe by the ground5 or else doo ye not well.
In breaking6 saue crooked, for mill and for ships,
and euer in hewing saue carpenters chips.E285
8
First see it well fenced er hewers begin,
then see it well stadled,7E286 without and within;
Thus being preserued and husbandlie donne,
shall sooner raise profit, to thee or thy sonne.
Stadling of woods.
9
Leaue growing for stadles the likest and best,
though seller and buier dispatched the rest.
In bushes, in hedgerowe, in groue, and in wood,
this lesson obserued is needfull and good.
10
Saue elme, ash and crabtree, for cart and for plough,
saue step for a stile, of the crotch of the bough.
Saue hazel for forks, saue sallow for rake,
saue huluer8 and thorne, thereof flaile for to make.
Discharge thy woods.
11
Make riddance of carriage, er yeere go about,
for spoiling of plant that is newlie come out.
To carter (with oxen) this message I bring,
leaue oxen abrode9 for anoieng the spring.E287
1210
Allowance of fodder some countries doo yeeld,
as good for the cattel as haie in the feeld.
Some mowe vp their hedlonds11 and plots among corne,
and driuen to leaue nothing, vnmowne, or vnshorne.
13
Some commons are barren, the nature is such,
and some ouer laieth the common too much.
The pestered commons small profit doth geeue,
and profit as little some reape I beleeue.
14
Some pester the commons, with iades and with geese,
with hog without ring and with sheepe without fleese.
Some lose a daie labour with seeking their owne,
some meet with a bootie they would not haue knowne.E288
15
Great troubles and losses the champion sees,12
and euer in brauling, as wasps among bees:
As charitie that waie appeereth but small,
so lesse be their winnings, or nothing at all.
16
Where champion wantethE289 a swineherd for hog,
there many complaineth of naughtie mans dog.
Where ech his owne keeper appoints without care,
there corne is destroied er men be aware.
17
The land is well harted with helpe of the fold,
for one or two crops, if so long it will hold.
If shepherd would keepe them from stroieng of corne,
the walke of his sheepe might the better be borne.
18
Where stones be too manie, annoieng thy land,
make seruant come home with a stone in his hand.
By daily so dooing, haue plentie yee shall,
both handsome for pauing and good for a wall.
¶ Dairie matters.
19
From April beginning, till Andrew be past,
so long with good huswife, hir dairie doth last.
Good milchcow and pasture, good husbands prouide,
the resdue good huswiues knowes best how to guide.
¶ Ill huswiferie.
20
Ill huswife vnskilful to make hir owne chees,
through trusting of others hath this for hir fees.
Her milke pan and creame pot, so slabbered and sost,
that butter is wanting and cheese is halfe lost.
¶
21
Where some of a cow doo raise yeerelie a pound,
with such seelie huswiues no penie is found.
Then dairie maid (Cisley) hir fault being knowne,
away apace trudgeth, with more than hir owne.
¶ Ill huswiues saiengs.
22
Then neighbour, for Gods sake, if any you see,
good seruant for dairie house, waine13 her to mee.E290
Such maister such man,E291 and such mistris such maid,
such husband and huswife, such houses araid.14
Notes
1 Sts. 1-5 are not in 1577.
2 “Now ye may see what medows are well laid up, and what not, and accordingly chuse your ground.”—T.R.
3 “I suppose in our Author’s time they made the Hills less than they do now.”—T.R. 1710.
4 “Overpoling (especially in height) is worse than underpoling.”—T.R.
5 “Six inches at the but may be more worth than two foot in another part.”—T.R.
6 “Sawing out; it being called breaking-up by workmen in those parts near where our Author lived.”—T.R.
7 “To stadle a Wood is to leave at certain distances a sufficient number of young Trees to replenish it.”—T.R.
8 “or Holly... heavy enough for flail swingels.”—T.R.
9 T.R. reads “leave not oxe abroad,” and explains spring to mean the young buds of felled underwood.
10 Sts. 12 to 18 are not in 1577.
11 “The laying of headlands for grass is frequently used in Norfolk to this day.”—T.R. 1710.
12 “Our Author liv’d in the Reigns of King Henry the Eighth, King Edward the Sixth, Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth: during which time there were several commotions about the taking in of Common Field Land.... The greatest part of the privileges of Common Fields, etc., are but so many privileges to wrong and quarrel with their neighbours.”—T.R.
13 waynes, 1573 (M.); wayne. 1577
14 and house is araid. 1573 (M.); “such houses arayde.” 1577.