75.
Milke six ewes, for one kowe, well chosen therefore:
and double thy dayrie, els trust me no more.
And yet may good huswiues, that knoweth the skill:
haue mixt or vnmixt, at their pleasure and will.
76.
For gredy of gaine, ouerlay not thy grownde:
and then shall thy cattell, be lusty and sownde.
But pinche them of pasture, while sommer time last:
and plucke at their tailes, ere & winter be past.
77.
Pinche weannels at no time, of water nor meate:
if euer thou hope to have them good neate.
In sommer at al times, in winter in frost:
if cattell lacke drinke, they be vtterly lost.
78.
In May at the furdest, twy fallow thy lande:
much drougth may cause after, thy plough els to stande.
That tilth being done, thou hast passed the wurste:
then after, who plowgheth, plowgh thou with the furste.
[¶ June.]
79.
In June get thy [wedehoke], thy knife and thy gloue:
and wede out such wede, as the corne doth not loue.
Slack no time thy weding, for darth nor for cheape:
thy corne shall reward it, or euer thou reape.
80.
The maywede doth burne, and the thistle doth freate:
the Tine pulleth downe, both the rie and the wheate.
The dock and the brake, noieth corne very much:
but bodle for barley, no weede there is such.
81.
In June washe thy shepe, where the water doth runne:
and kepe them from dust, but not kepe them from sunne
Then share them and spare not, at two daies anende,
the sooner, the better their bodies amende.
82.
Rewarde not the shepe, when thou takest his cote:
with two or three patches, as brode as a grote;
The flie than and wormes, will compel it to pine:
more paine to thy cattell, more trouble is thine.