Of Pismiers and Snailes. If your young trées be troubled with Pismiers, or Snailes, which are very noysome vnto them, you shall take vnsleckt lime and sope-ashes and mingling them with wine-lées, spread it all about the roote of the trées so infected, and annoint the body of the trée likewise therewith, and it will not onely destroy them but giue comfort to the trée: the soote of a chimney or Oake sawe-dust spread about the roote will doe the same.
Of Caterpillers, and Earewigges. If Caterpillers doe annoy your young trées, who are great deuourers of the leaues and young buddes, and spoylers of the barke, you shall, if it be in the summer time, make a very strong brine of water and salt, and either with a garden pumpe, placed in a tubbe, or with squirts which haue many hoales you shall euery second day water and wash your trées, and it will destroy them, because the Caterpiller naturally cannot indure moisture, but if neuerthelesse you sée they doe continue still vpon your trees in Winter, then you shall when the leaues are falne away take dankish straw and setting it on fire smeare and burne them from the trée, and you shall hardly euer be troubled with them againe vpon the same trées: roules of hay layd on the trées will gather vp Earewigges and kill them.
Of the barrainenesse of Trees. If your trées be barraine, and albeit they flourish and spread there leaues brauely, yet bring forth no fruit at all, it is a great sicknesse, and the worst of all other: therefore you shall vnderstand it procéedeth of two causes: first, of [two] much fertillitie, and fatnesse of the ground, which causeth the leafe to put forth and flourish in such vnnaturall abundance, that all such sappe and nutriment as should knit and bring forth fruit, turnes onely vnto leafe, cyons, and vnprofitable branches, which you shall perceiue both by the abundance of the leaues and by the colour also, which will be of a more blacker and déeper gréene, and of much larger proportion then those which haue but their naturall and proper rights: and the cure thereof is to take away the earth from the roote of such trées and fill vp the place againe with other earth, which is of a much leaner substance: but if your trée haue no such infirmitie of fatnesse, but beareth his leaues and branches in good order and of right colour and yet notwithstanding is barraine and bringeth forth little or no fruit, then that disease springeth from some naturall defect in the trée, and the cure thereof is thus: first, you shall vnbare the roote of the trée, and then noting which is the greatest and principallest branch of all the roote, you shall with a great wimble boare a hole into that roote and then driue a pinne of olde dry Ashe into the same (for Oake is not altogether so good) and then cutting the pinne off close by the roote, couer all the head of the pinne with yealow waxe, and then lay the mould vpon the roote of the trée againe, and treade it hard and firmely downe, and there is no doubte but the trée will beare the yéere following: in Fraunce they vse for this infirmitie to boare a hoale in the body of the trée slope-wise, somewhat past the hart, and to fill vp the hoale with life honey and Rose-water mixt together, and incorporated for at least xxiiij. howers, and then to stoppe the hole with a pinne of the one woode: also if you wash the rootes of your trées in the drane water which runneth from your Barley when you stéepe it [for Malt], it will cure this disease of barrainenesse.
Of the bitternesse of Fruit. If the fruit which is vpon your trées be of a bitter and sootie tast, to make it more pleasant and swéet you shall wash your trée all ouer with Swines dunge and water mixt together, & to the rootes of the trées you shall lay earth and Swines dunge mixt together, which must be done in the month of Ianuary and February onely, and it will make the fruit tast pleasantly. And thus much for the dressing and preseruing of trées.
Chap. VIII.
Of the Vine, and of his ordering.
For as much as the nature, temperature, and clymate, of our soyle is not so truely proper and agréeing with the Vine as that of Fraunce, Italy, Spaine, and such like, and sith wée haue it more for delight, pleasure, and prospect, then for any peculyar [profit], I will not vndertake Monsiuer Lybaults painefull labour, in discribing euery curious perfection or defect that belongs thereunto, as if it were the onely iewell and commoditie of our kingdome, but onely write so much as is fitting for our knowledge touching the maintaynance, increase, and preseruation thereof, in our Orchards, Gardens, and other places of recreation.
Of planting or setting the Vine. First then to speake of the planting or setting of the Vine, your greatest diligence must be to séeke out the best plants, and if that which is most strange, rare, great and pleasant be the best, then is that grape which is called the Muskadine, or Sacke grape, the best, and haue their beginning either from Spaine, the Canary Ilands, or such like places: next to them is the French grape, of which there be many kindes, the best whereof is the grape of Orleance, the next the grape of Gascoynie, the next of Burdeaux, and the worst of Rochell, and not any of these but by industry will prosper in our English gardens: when therefore you chuse your plants, you shall chuse such of the young cyons as springing from the olde woode, you may in the cutting cut at least a ioynt or two of olde woode with the young: for the olde will take soonest, and this olde woode must be at least seauen or eight inches long, and the young cyon almost a yard, and the thicker and closer the ioynts of the young cyon are, so much the better they are: and the fit time for cutting and gathering these sets are in midde-Ianuary, then hauing prepared, digged, and dunged your earth the winter before, you shall at the latter end of Ianuary take two of these sets, or plants, placing them according to this figure:
And lay them in the earth slope-wise, at least a foote déepe, leauing out of the earth, vncouered, not aboue foure or fiue ioynts, at the most, and then couer them with good earth firmely, closely, and strongly, hauing regard to raise those cyons which are without the earth directly vpward, obseruing after they be set, once in a month to wéede them, and kéepe them as cleane as is possible: for nothing is more noysome vnto them then the suffocating of wéeds: also you shall not suffer the mould to grow hard or bind about the rootes, but with a small spade once in a fortnight to loosen and breake the earth, because there rootes are so tender that the least straytning doth strangle and confound them. If the season doe grow dry, you may vse to water them, but not in such sort as you water other plants, which is to sprinckle water round about the earth of the rootes, but you shall with a round Iron made for the purpose somewhat bigger then a mans fingar, make certaine holes into the earth, close vpon the roote of the Vine, and powre therein either water, the dregges of strong-Ale, or the lées of Wine, or if you will you may mixe with the lées of Wine either Goats-milke, or Cowes-milke, and power it into the holes and it will nourish the Vine excéedingly, and not the Vine onely, but all sorts of dainty grafted Plumbes, especially Peaches.
Of proyning the Vine. Now for proyning the Vine, you shall vnderstand that it is euer to be done after the fall of the leafe, when the sappe is desended downeward, for if you shall proyne, or cut him, either in the spring, or when the sappe is aloft, it will bléede so excéedingly, that with great difficulty you shall saue the body of the trée from dying: and, in proyning of the Vine you shall obserue two things, the first, that you cut away all superfluous cyons and branches, both aboue and below, which either grow disorderly aboue, or fruitlessely below, and in cutting them you shall obserue, neither to cut the olde woode with the young cyon, nor to leaue aboue one head or leader vpon one branch: secondly, you shall in proyning, plash and spread the VINE thinnely against the wall, giuing euery seuerall branch and cyon his place, and passage, and not suffer it to grow loosely, rudely, or like a wilde thorne, out of all decency and proportion: for you must vnderstand that your Grapes doe grow euer vpon the youngest cyons, and if of them you shall preserue too many, questionlesse for want of nourishment they will lose their vertue, and you your profit. Now if your Vine be a very olde Vine, and that his fruit doth decay, either in quantitie or proportion; if then you finde he haue any young cyons which spring from his roote, then when you proyne him you shall cut away all the olde stocke, within lesse then an handfull of the young cyons, and make them the leaders, who will prosper and continue in perfection a long time after, especially if you trimme the rootes with fresh earth, and fresh dunge. Againe, if you be carefull to looke vnto your Vine, you shall perceiue close by euery bunch of grapes certaine small thridde-like cyons, which resemble twound wyars, curling and turning in many rings, these also take from the grapes very much nutriment, so that it shall be a labour very well imployd to cut them away as you perceiue them.