Feb, fill the dike[E187]
With what thou dost like.[1]
Forgotten month past
Doe now at the last.
1
Who laieth on doong er he laieth on plow,
such husbandrie vseth as thrift doth alow.
One month er ye spred it, so still let it stand,
er euer to plow it, ye take it in hand.
2
Place doong heape 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 to be better for that.
3
Go plow in the stubble, for now is the season,
for sowing of fitchis, of beanes, and of peason.
Sowe runciuals timelie, and all that be gray,
but sowe not the white till S. Gregories day.[2]
4
Sowe peason and beanes in the wane of the Moone,[3]
who soweth them sooner, he soweth too soone.
That they with the planet may rest and arise,
and flourish with bearing most plentifull wise.
5
Friend, harrow in time, by some maner of meanes,
not onely thy peason, but also thy beanes.
Unharrowed die, being buried in clay,
where harrowed florish, as flowers in May.
6
Both peason and beanes sowe afore ye doo plow,[4]
the sooner ye harrow, the better for yow.[5]
White peason so good for the purse and the pot:
let them be well vsed else well doo ye not.
7
Haue eie vnto haruest what euer ye sowe,
for feare of mischances, by [riping] too slowe.
Least corne be destroied, contrarie to right,
by hogs or by cattel, by day or by night.[6]
8
Good prouender labouring horses would haue,
good haie and good plentie, plow oxen doo craue.
To hale out the muck and to plow vp thy ground:
or else it may hinder thee many a pound.