¶ Here beginneth a new tract or treatise most profitable for all husband men/ and very fruitful for all other persons to read newly correct & amended by the author/ with diverse other things added thereunto.  

husbandry    

¶ The auctors prologue.  
SIt ista questio. This is the question. whereunto is every man ordained. And as Job saith. Ho more nascitur ad laborem: sicut avis ad volandum. That is to say/ a man is ordained and borne to labour? as a bird is ordained to fly. And the apostle saith. Qui non laborat: non manducet: debet enim in obsequio dei laborate/ qui de bonis eius vult manducare. That is to say. He that laboureth not/ should not eat/ & he ought to labour & do god's work that will eat of his goods or gifts/ the which is an hard text after the literal sense. For by the letter the king/ the queen/ nor all other lords spiritual & temporal should not eat/ without they should labour the which were uncomely/ & not convenient for such estates to labour. But who that readeth in the book of the moralytees of the chess/ shall thereby perceive that every man from the highest degree to the lowest/ is set & ordained to have labour & occupation/ & that book is divided in. vi. degrees/ that is to say/ the king/ the queen/ the bishops/ the knights/ the judges/ & the yeomen. In the which book is showed their degrees/ their authorities/ their work/ & their occupations & what they ought to do. And they so doing & executing their authorities/ work/ & occupations/ have a wonders great study & labour/ of the which authorities/ occupations/ and work/ were at this time to long to write/ wherefore I remit that book as mine author thereof. The which book were necessary to be known of every degree/ that they might do & order themself according to the same. And in so much the yeomen in the said moralytees & game of the chess be set before to labour/ defend and maintain all that other higher estates/ the which yeomen represent the common people/ as husbands and labourers/ therefore I purpose to speak first of husbandry.  
¶ Finis.   

¶ The table.  

FIrst whereby husbandmen de live. Folio. primo.  
¶ Of diverse manner of ploughs.  
¶ To know the names of all the parts of the plough  
¶ The tempering of ploughs. fo. two.  
¶ The necessary things that belongeth to a plough cart/ or wain. fo. iii.  
¶ whether is better a plough of oxen or a plough of horses. fo. iiii.  
¶ The diligence and the attendance that a husband should give to his work in manner of an other prologue & a special ground of all this treatise. fo. v.  
¶ How a man should blow all manner of lands all times of the year.  
¶ To plough both peas & beans. fo. vi.  
¶ How to saw both peace and beans.  
¶ Sede of discretion. folio. seven.  
¶ How all manner of corn should be sown.  
¶ To sow barley. fo. viii.  
¶ To sow oats. fo. ix.  
¶ To harowe all manner of corns.  
¶ To fallow. fo. x.  
¶ To carry out dung or muck and to spread it.  
¶ To set out the sheep fold. fo. xi.  
¶ To carry wood & other necessaries. fo. xii.  
¶ To know divers manner of weeds.  
¶ To weed corn. fo. xiii.  
¶ The first stirring.  
To mow grass. fo. xiv.  
¶ How forks & rakes should be made.  
¶ To tedde & make hay. How rye should be shorn folio. xv.  
¶ How to shear wheat.  
¶ To mow or shear barley and oats. fo. xvi.  
¶ To reap or mow peas and beans.  
¶ How all manner corn should be tithed.  
¶ How all manner of corn should be covered. fo. xvii.  
To load corn & mow it  
¶ The second stirring.  
¶ To sow wheat & rye. folio. xviij.  
¶ To thres●he & wynow corn.  
¶ To sever beans/ pees and fetches. fo. nineteen.  
¶ Of sheep/ & what time of the year the rams should be put to the ewes.  
¶ To make a ewe to love her lamb. fo. xx.  
¶ what time lambs should be waned.  
¶ To draw sheep & sever them in divers parts.  
¶ To belt sheep. fo. xxi.  
¶ To grese sheep.  
¶ To meddle terre.  
¶ To make broom salve is a sheep have mathes. folio. xxij.  
¶ Blindness of sheep and other diseases/ & remedies therefore.  
¶ The worm ●●a sheeps foot/ & help therefore.  
¶ The blood/ & remedy if he come betime. fo. twenty-three.  
¶ The pocks/ and remedy therefore.  
¶ The wood evil/ and remedy therefore.  
¶ To wash sheep.  
To shear sheep. fo. xxiiii▪  
¶ To draw & sever the bad sheep from the good.  
¶ what roteth the sheep.  
¶ To know a rotten sheep divers manner of ways/ whereof some of them will. not fail. fo. xxv.  
¶ To buy lean cattle.  
¶ To buy fat cattle.  
¶ diverse sicknesses of cattle/ & remedies therefore/ and first of murrain fo. xxuj.  
¶ Long sought/ and remedy therefore.  
¶ Dewbolue/ & the hard remedy therefore.  
¶ Risen upon/ & the remedy therefore. fo. xxvii.  
¶ The turn/ and remedy therefore.  
¶ The warrybred/ and remedy therefore.  
¶ The foul/ and remedy therefore. fo. xxviij.  
The gout without remedy  
¶ To rear calves.  
To geld calves. fo. xxix.  
Horses & mares to draw  
¶ The loss of a lamb/ a calf/ or a fool. fo. thirty.  
what cattle should go together in one pasture. fo. xxx●  
The ꝓpertyes of horses.  
¶ The two properties that a horse hath of a man.  
¶ The two properties of a bauson.  
¶ The four properties of a lion.  
¶ The nine properties of an ox.  
¶ The nine properties of an hare.  
¶ The nine properties of a fox.  
¶ The nine properties of an ass.  
¶ The ten properties of a woman.  
¶ The diseases & sorance of horses. fo. xxxij.  
¶ The lampas. fo. xxxiij.  
¶ The barbs.  
Mourning of the tongue.  
¶ Pur●y.  
¶ Broken winded.  
¶ Glanders.  
Mourning of the chine  
¶ Stranguelyon.  
¶ The haw.  
¶ Blindness.  
¶ Uyves.  
¶ The cords.  
¶ The farcyon.  
¶ A malander. fo. xxxiiij.  
¶ A salander.  
¶ A serewe.  
¶ A splent.  
¶ A ryngbone.  
¶ wyndgall  
¶ More found.  
¶ The colts evil.  
¶ The botts. fo. xxxv.  
¶ The worms.  
¶ Afraid.  
¶ Navylgall. A spaven.  
¶ A curb.  
¶ The string halt.  
¶ Enterfyre. Myllettes.  
¶ The pains.  
¶ Craches. foe xxxuj.  
¶ Attaint. A cloyed.  
¶ The scab.  
¶ warts. Lousy.  
¶ The saying of the french man.  
¶ The diversity between a horse master/ a corser/ and a horse leech.  
¶ Of swine. fo. xxxvij.  
¶ Of bees.  
¶ How to keep beasts & other cattle. fo. xxxviij.  
¶ To get sets and set them. fo. xxxix.  
¶ To make a dyche.  
¶ To make a hedge. fo. xl  
¶ To plash or pleche a hedge.  
¶ To mend a high way. folio▪ xli.  
¶ To remove & set trees.  
¶ Trees to be set without roots & grow. fo. xlij.  
¶ To fell wood for household to sell.  
¶ To shred/ lop/ or crop trees.  
How a man should shred/ lop/ or crop trees. fo.▪ xliij.  
¶ To sell wood or timber  
¶ To keep spring wood folio. xiiiij.  
¶ Necessary things belonging to graffing.  
¶ what fruit should be first graffed. fo. xlv.  
¶ How to graff.  
¶ To graff between the bark & the tree. fo. xluj.  
¶ To nourish all manner of stone fruit & nuts.  
¶ A short information for a young gentleman that intendeth to thrive.  
¶ A lesson made in english verses/ that a gentylmen servant shall not forget his gear in his in behind him. fo. xlviij.  
¶ A prologue for the wives occupation.  
¶ A lesson for the wife.  
¶ what thing the wife of right is bound to do.  
¶ what work the wife aught to do generally. folio. xlix.  
¶ To keep measure in spending. lj.  
¶ To eat within thy teder.  
¶ A short lesson uno the husband. fo. lij.  
¶ How do men of high degree keep measure.  
¶ Prodygalite in outrageous & costly array.  
¶ Of delicious meats and drinks. fo. liij.  
¶ Of outrageous play & game.  
¶ A prologue of the third saying of the philosopher. fo. liiij.  
¶ diversity between predication and doctrine.  
¶ what is richesse. fo. lv.  
¶ what is the property of a rich man. fo. luj.  
¶ what joys and pleasures are in heaven.  
¶ what things pleaseth god most fo. lvii.  
¶ what be gods commandments.  
¶ How a man should lone god and please him.  
¶ How a man should love his neighbours. fo. lviii.  
¶ Of prayer that pleaseth god very moche.  
¶ what things letteth prayer.  
¶ How a man should pray folio. lix.  
¶ A mean to put away idle thoughts in praying. fo. lx.  
¶ A mean to avoid temptation. fo. lxi.  
¶ Alms deeds pleaseth god moche.  
¶ The first manner of alms deed. foe lxij.  
¶ The second manner of alms deed. fo. lxiij.  
¶ The third manner of alms deed.  
¶ what is the greatest offence that a man may do or offend god in.   
¶ Explicit tabula.   
¶ The book of husbandry.  

¶ Here beginneth the book of husbandry/ and first whereby husband men do live.  
THe most general living that husbands can have/ is by ploughing & sowing of their corns/ & rearing or breeding of their cattles/ and not the one without the other. Than is the plough the most necessaryest instrument the an husband can occupy/ wherefore it is convenient to be known how a plough should be made.   

¶ divers manners of ploughs.  
THere be ploughs of divers makynges in divers contrees/ and likewise there be ploughs of iron of divers fations. And that is because there be many manner of grounds and soil. Some white clay/ some reed clay/ some gravel/ some chylturne/ some sand/ some mean earth/ some meddled with marvel/ and in many places haveth ground/ and one plough will not serve in all places. wherefore it is necessary to have divers manner of ploughs. In Somerset shire about zelcestre/ the sharbeame that in many places is called the plough head/ is four or five foot long/ and it is broad & thine. And that is because the land is very tough/ & would soak the plough into the earth if the sharbeame were not long/ broad/ and thin. In Kente they have other manner ploughs/ some god with wheels/ as they do in many other places/ and some will turn the sheldbrede at every lands end/ and plough all one way. In Buckyngham shire are ploughs made of another manner/ & also other manner of plough yrens/ the which me seemeth generally good and likely to serve in many places/ & specially if the plough beam & sharbeame were four inches longer between the shethe & the plough tail/ that the sheldbrede might come more a slope/ for those ploughs give out to suddenly/ & therefore they be the worse to draw & for no cause else. In Leceytre shire/ Lankesshyre/ yorkeshyre/ Lyncoln/ Norfolk/ Cambrige shire/ & many other countries/ the ploughs be of divers makynge/ the which were to long a process to declare how &c. But how so ever they be made/ if they be well tempered & go well/ they may be the better suffered.   

¶ To know the names of all the parts of the plow.  
MEn that be no husbands may fortune to read this book/ that knoweth not which is the plough beam/ the share beam/ the plough sheathe/ the blow tail/ the stylte/ the rest/ the shield breed/ the fenbrede/ the rough staves/ the plough foot/ the plough ear or coke/ the share/ the culture/ & the plough maul/ peradventure I do give them these names here/ as is used in my country/ & yet in other countries they have other names/ wherforey● shall know that the plough beam is the long tree above/ the which is a little bent/ the share beam is the tree underneath/ whereupon the share is set/ the plough sheath is a thine piece of dry wood made of oak/ that is set fast in a mortays in the plough beam/ & also into the sharbeme/ the which is the key and the chief band of all the plough. The plough tail is that the husband holdeth in his hand and the hinder end of the plough beam is put in a long slit made in the same tail & not set fast/ but it may rise up & go down/ & is pinned behind/ & the same plough tail is set fast in a morteis in the hinder end of the sharbeame. The plough stylt is on the right side of the plough/ where upon the rest is set/ the rest is a little piece of wodpynned fast upon the neither end of the stylte/ and to the sharbeame in the further end. The sheldebred is a broad piece of wood fast pinned to the right side of the sheathe in the farther end and to the utter side of the stylte in the hinder end. The fen breed is a thine board/ pinned or nailed most commonly to the life side of the sheathe in the farther end/ and to the plough end in the hinder end. And the said sheldebrede would come over the said sheathes & fenbrede an inch/ and to come passed the mids of the share/ made with a sharp edge/ to receive & turn the earth when the culture hath cut it/ There be two rough staves in every plough in the hinder end/ set a slope between the plough tail and the stylte/ to hold out and keep the plough abroad in the hinder end/ and the one longer than the other. The plough foot is a little piece of wood with a crooked end set before in a morteys in the plough beam/ set fast with wedges to drive up and down/ and it is as a stay to order of what deepness the plough shall go. The plough care is made of three pieces of iron/ nailed ●aste v● to the right side of the plough beam. And poor men have a crooked piece of wood pinned fast to the plough beam. The share is a piece of iron sharp before and broad behind/ a foot long/ made with a socket to be set on the further end of the share beam/ the culture is a bend piece of iron set in a morteys in the mids of the plough beam/ fastened with wedges on every side/ and the back thereof is half an inch thick & more/ and three inches broad/ & made e'en before to cut the earth clean/ and it must be well steeled/ & that shall cause the easier draught/ and the yrens to last moche longer. The plough mall is a piece of hard wood/ with a pin put through set in the plough beam/ in an auguries bore.   

¶ The tempering of ploughs.  
NOw the ploughs be made of diverse manners/ it is necessary for an husband to know how these ploughs should be tempered▪ to plough and turn clean/ & to make no rest balks. A rest baulk is where the plough biteth at the point of the culture & share/ and cutteth not the ground clean to the forowe that was ploughed last before/ but leaveth a little ridge stand between/ the which doth breed thystyls and other weeds. All these manner of ploughs should have all like one manner of tempering in the yrens. How be it a man may temper for one thing in two or three places as for deepness. The foot is one/ the setting of the culture of a deepness is an other/ & the third is at the plough tail/ where be two wedges that be called slot● wedges/ the one is the slote above the beam/ an other in the said slote under the plough beam/ and other while he will set both above or both underneath/ but always let him take good heed & keep one general rule of the hinder end of the sharebeame do alway touch the earth/ that it may kill a word/ or else it goth not truly. The tempering to go broad & narrow is in the setting of the culture & with the driving of his side wedges/ fore wedge/ & he'll wedge/ which would be made of dry wood/ & also the setting on of his share helpeth well/ & is a cunning point of husbandry/ & mendeth and payreth much ploughing/ but it is so narrow a point to know that it is hard to make a man to understand it by writing without he were at the operation thereof to teach men the practive/ for it must lean moche into the forowe/ and the point may not stand to much up nor down/ nor to much in to the land nor into the forow. How beit the setting of the culture helpeth moche. Some ploughs have a bend of iron tryanglewyse set there as the plough ear should be that hath three nyckes on the farther side. And if he will have his plough to go a narrow forowe/ as a seed forow should be/ than be setteth his foot team in the nycke next to the plough beam/ and if he will go a mean breed/ he setteth it in the middle nycke that is best for stirring/ and if he would go a broad forow/ he sertyth it in the uttermost nycke/ that is best for falowing. The which is a good way to keep the breed and soon tempered/ but it serveth not the deepness. And some men have in stead of the plough foot a piece of iron set up right in the farther end of the plough beam/▪ and they call it a coke/ made with two or three nyckes and that serveth for deepness. The ploughs that go with wheels have a straight beam/ & may be tempered in the iron as the other be for the breed/ but their most special temper is at the bolster/ where as the plough beam lieth/ & that serveth both for deepness and for breed. And they be good on even ground that lieth light/ but me seemeth they be far more costly than the other ploughs. And though these ploughs be well tempered for one manner of ground/ that temper will not serve in an other manner of ground/ but it must rest in the discretion of the husband to know when it goeth well.   

¶ The necessary things that belongeth to a plough/ cart/ & wain.  
BUt or he begin to plough he must have his plough & his plough iron/ his oxen or horses/ and the get that belongeth to them/ that is to say/ bows/ yokes/ lands/ stilkynge/ wrething temes. And or he shall load his corn he must have a wain/ a copyoke/ a pair of sleeves/ a wain rope/ & a pytchforke. This wain is made of divers pieces that will have great reparation/ that is to say/ the wheels/ and those be made of nathes/ spokes/ felyes/ and doubles/ and they must be well ●ettered with wood or iron/ & if they be iron bound they are much the better/ and though they be the dearer at first/ yet at length they be better cheap/ for a pair of wheels iron bound will were. seven. or. viii. pair of other wheels/ and they go round and light after oxen or horses to draw. How be it on mareys ground & soft ground the other wheels be better/ because they be brother on the soul/ & will not go so deep, They must have an axyltre clout with viii. wayncloutes of iron ii lynpynes of iron in the axyltre ends ii axyll pins of iron/ or else of tough hard wood. The body of the wain of oak/ the staves/ the neither rathes/ the over rathes/ the cross summer/ the keys & pykstaves. And if he go with a horse blow/ than must he have his horses/ or mare's/ or both his hombers or collars/ holmes whyted/ tresses/ swyngleters and togewith. Also a cart made of ash/ because it is light and like stuff to it as is to a wain/ and also a cart saddle/ bacbandes' & belly bands/ and a cart ladder be hind/ when he shall carry either corn or kids/ or such other. And in many countries their veins have cart ladders both behind & before. Also an husband must have an axe/ a hachet/ a hedgyngbyll/ a pin augur/ a rest augur/ a flail/ a spade/ and a shovel.  
And how be it that I give them these names as is most commonly used in my country/ I know they have other names in other countries/ but hereby a man may perceive many things belonging to husbandry to their great costs & charges/ for the maintenance & upholding of the same. And many more things are belonging to husbands than these as ye shall well perceive or I make an end of this treatise. And if a young husband should buy all these things/ it would be to costly to him/ wherefore it is necessary for him/ to learn to make his yokes/ ox bows/ stoles/ and all manner of plough gear.   

¶ whether is better a plough of horses or a plough of Oxen.  
IT is to be known whether is better a plough of horses or a plough of oxen/ and therein me seemeth aught to be made a distinction. For in some places an ox plough is better than a horse plough/ and in some places a horse plough is better/ that is to say in every place where as the husband hath several pastures to put his oxen in when they come fro their work/ there is the ox ploughed the better. For an ore may not endure his work to labour all day/ & than to be put to the comyns or before the herdman/ & than to be set in a fold all night without meat/ and go to his labour in the morning. But & he be put in a good pasture all night/ he will labour moche of all the day daily. And oxen will plough in tough clay and upon hilly ground/ where horses will stand still: And where as is no several pastures/ there the horse plough is better/ for the horses may be teddered or tied upon ●●ys/ balks or hades/ where as oxen may not be kept and it is not used to tedder them/ but in few places. And horses will go faster than oxen on even ground or light ground/ and quicker in carriages/ but they be far more costly to keep in winter/ for they must have be the hay and corn to eat/ and straw for litter/ they must be well shod on all four feet/ and the gear that they shall draw with is more costly than for the oxen/ and shorter while it will last. And the oxen will eat but straw and a little hay/ the which is not half the cost that horses must have/ and they have no shoes as horses have. And if any sorance come to the horses/ wax old/ brysed or blind/ than he is little worth. And if any sorance come to an ox/ wax old/ brysed or blind/ for two shillings he may be fed/ & than he is man's meet/ and as good or better than ever he was. And the horse when he dieth is but carien. And therefore me seemeth all things considered the plough of oxen is much more profitable than the plough of horses.   

¶ The diligence & the attendance that a husband should give to his work/ in manner of an other prologue/ and the special ground of all this treatise.  
THou husband y● intendest to get thy living by husbandry/ take heed to the saying of the wise Philosopher/ the which saith. Adhibe curam/ tene mensuram/ et eris dives. That is to say/ take heed to thy charge/ keep measure/ and thou shalt be rich And now to speak of the first article of these three s. Adhibe curam. He that will take upon him to do any thing and be slothful/ reckless/ and not diligent to execute nor perform that thing that he taketh upon him/ he shall never thrive by his occupation. And to the same intent saith our lord in his gospel by a parable. Nemo mittens manum suam ad aratrum respiciens retro/ aptus est regnum dei. The spiritual construction of this text. I remit it to the doctors of divinity/ and to the great clerks/ but to reduce and bring the same text to my purpose. I take it thus. There is no man putting his hand to the plough lo▪ king bakward/ is worthy to have that thing that he ought to have. For if he go to the plough and look backward/ he seeth not whether the plough go in ryge or rain/ make a baulk or go overthwart. And if it so do/ there will be little corn. And so if a man attend not his husbandry/ but go to sport or play/ tavern or alehouse/ or sleeping at home/ and such other idle work/ he is not than worthy to have any corn/ & therefore. Fac ꝙ venisti. Do that thou comest for/ and thou shalt find that thou seekest for.   

¶ How a man should plough all manner of lands all times of the year.  
NOw these ploughs be made and tempered/ it is to be known how a man should plough all times of the year. In the beginning of the year after the feast of the Epyphany it is time for a husband to go to the plough. And if thou have any leys to fallow or to sow oats upon/ first blow them that the grass and the moss may rote/ and blow them a deep square forowe. And in all manner of plowynges see that thy eye/ thy hand/ & thy foot may agree/ & be always ready one to serve an other/ & to turn up moche mould and to lay it flat that it rear not on edge. For if it rear on edge the grass and moss will not rote. And if thou sow it with winter corn/ as wheat or rye/ as moche corn as toucheth the moss will be drowned/ the moss doth keep such weet in itself. And in some countries if a man plough deep/ he shall pass the good ground and have but little corn/ but that country is not for men to keep husbandry upon/ but for to rear & breed cattles or sheep/ for else they must go beat their lands with mattocks/ as they do in many places of Corn wail/ and in some places of devonshire.   

¶ To plough for peses and beans.  
HOw to plough for peses & beans were necessary to know: first thou must remember whyches is most cleye ground/ and that plough first/ and let it lie a good space or thou sow it/ because the frost/ the rain/ the wind/ & the son may cause it to break small/ to make moche mould/ and to rygge it. And to plough a square forowe/ the breed/ and the deepness all one/ and to lay it close to his fellow. For the more forowes the more corn/ for a general rule of all manner of corns. And that may be proved at the coming up of all manner of corn to stand at the lands end and look toward the other end. And than may ye see how the corn groweth.   

¶ How to sow both peses and beans.  
THou shalt sow thy peses upon the clay ground and thy beans upon the barley ground/ for they would have ranker ground than peses. How be it some husbands hold opinion/ that big and stiff ground/ as cleye/ would be sown with big ware/ as beans/ but me think the contrary/ for & a dry summer come/ his beans will be short. And if the ground be good/ put the more beans to the peas and the better shall they yield/ when they be threshed. And if it be very rank ground as is moche at every town side/ where cattles doth resort/ plough not that land till ye will sow it/ for & ye do there will come up kedlokes and other weeds. And than sow it with beans/ for and ye sow peas the kedlokes will hurt them/ & when ye see seasonable time sow both peas and beans/ so that they be sown in the beginning of March. How shall ye know seasonable time/ go upon the land that is ploughed/ and if it sing or cry or make any noise under thy feet/ than it is to weet to sow/ and if it make no noise and will bear thy horses/ than sow in the name of god/ but how to sow▪ Put thy peas in to thy hopper and cast a broad thong o● ledder or of garthe web of an elne long/ fasten it to ●othe ends of the hopper/ and put it over thy heed like a leysshe. And stand in the mids of the land where the sack lieth/ the which is most convenient for filling of thy hopper/ and set thy lift foot before and take an handful of peas. And when thou takest up thy right foot/ than cast thy peas fro the all abroad/ and when thy lift foot riseth take an other handful/ and when thy right foot riseth than cast them fro the. And so at every two paces thou shalt ●owe an handful of peas/ and so see that the foot & the hand agree/ & than ye shall sow even. And in your casting ye must open as well your fingers as your han●e ● and the higher and the farther that ye cast your corn/ the better shall it spread/ except it be a great wind. And if the land be very good and will break small in the ploughing/ it is better to sow after the plough than tarry any longer.   

¶ Sede of discretion.  
THere is a seed that is called discretion/ & if a husband have of that seed and mingle it among his other corns/ they will grow much the better/ for that seed will tell him how many casts of corn every land ought to have. And a young husband/ and may fortune some old husband have not sufficient of that seed/ and he that lacketh let him borrow of his neygheboures that have. And his neighbours be unkind if they will not lend this young husband part of this seed. For this seed of discretion hath a wonders property/ for the more that it is taken of or lent of/ the more it is. And therefore me seemeth it should be more spiritual than temporal/ wherein is a great diversity/ for a temporal thing the more it is divided the less it is/ and a spiritual thing the more it is divided the more it is. Uerbi gratia. For ensample. I put case a wife bring a loaf of breed to the church to make holy breed/ when it is cut in many small pieces and holy breed made thereof/ there may be so many men/ women/ & children in the church/ that by that time that the pressed hath dealt to every one of them a little piece/ there shall never a crumb be left in the hamper. And a spunall thing as a P● n● or prayer that any man can say/ let him teach it to. xx. a. C. or to a. M. yet is the prayer never the less but moche more. And so/ this sede of discretion is but wisdom and ●eason/ and he that hath wisdom/ reason/ and discretion may teach it and inform other men as he is bound to do/ wherein he shall have thank of god/ & he doth but as god hath commanded him by his gospel (Quod grat● accepistis) gratis date▪ That thing that ye took freely/ give it freely again/ and yet shall ye have never the less.   

¶ How all manner corn should be sown.  
BUt yet me thinketh it is necessary to declare how all manner of corn should be sown/ & how moche upon an acre most commonly/ and first of peses and beans. An acre of ground by the statute/ that is to say. xvi. foot and a half to the perch or pole/ four perches to an acre in breed/ and. xl. perches to an acre in length/ may be meetly well sown with two London bussshels of peas/ the which is but two strikes in other places. And if there be the fourth part beans than will it have half a London bushel more/ & if it ●ehalfe beans it will have three London bushels/ & if it be all beans/ it will have four London bushels fully/ and that is half a quarter. Because the beans be great and grow up straight/ and do not spread and go abroad as peses do. An acre of good beans is worth an acre and a half of good peace/ because there will be more bushels. And the best property that belongeth to a good husband/ is to sow all manner of corn thick enough/ and specially beans and barley for commonly they be sown upon rank ground/ and good ground will have the burden of corn or of weed. And as much ploughing and harowing hath an acre of ground and sow thereupon but one bushel/ as and he sowed four bushels. And undoubted one bushel may not give so moche corn again as the four bushels/ though the three bushels that he sowed more be allowed and set apart. And one bushel and an half of white peas or green pease/ will sow as much ground as two bushels of grey peses/ & that is because they be so small the husband needeth not to take so great an handful. In some countries they begin to sow peses soon after Christmas/ & in some places they sow both peses & beans under forow/ and those of reason must be sown betime. But for the most generality to begin soon after Candelmasse is good season/ so that they be sown or the beginning of March or soon upon. And specially let them be sown in the old of the moan. For thopinion of old husbands is/ that they should the better cod and the sooner be ripe. But I speak not of hasty pese● for they be sown before christmas.   

¶ To sow barley.  
Every good husband hath his barley fallow well donged and dying rygged all the deep & ●olde of winter/ the which rygging maketh the land to be dry/ and the dunging maketh it to be melowe and rank, And if a dry season come before Candelmasse or soon after/ it would be cast down and water forowed between the lands/ that the weet rest not in the rain/ and in the beginning of March ridge it up again/ and to sow in every acre five London bushels/ or four at the least/ & some years it may so fortune that there cometh no seasonable wether before March to plough his barleye earth. And as soon as he hath sown his peas and beans/ than let him cast his barley earth/ & shortly after to rygge it again so that it be sown before Apryll. And if the year time be passed/ than sow it upon the casting. ¶ It is to be noted that there be three manner of barleys/ that is to say/ sprot barley/ long ear/ & bear barley/ that some men call big. Sprot barley hath a flat ear most commonly/ three quarters of an inch broad/ & three inches long/ and the corns be very great and white/ and it is the best barley/ Long ear hath a flat ear half an inch broad/ & four inches & more of length. But the corn is not so great nor so white/ & sooner it will turn & grow to the oats. Bear barley or big would be sown upon light & dry ground/ & hath an ear three inches of length or more/ set four square like peck wheat/ small corns & little flower/ and that is the worst barley/ and four London bushels are sufficient for an acre. And in some countries they do not sow their barley till May/ & that is most commonly upon gravel or sandy ground. But that barley generally is never so good as that that is sown in March. For if it be very dry wether after it be sown/ that corn that lieth above lieth dry & hath no moisture and that that lieth underneath cometh up/ and when rain cometh than sprytteth that that lieth above/ & often times it is green when the other is ripe/ and when it is threshed there is moche light corn.   

¶ To sow oats.  
ANd in March it is time to sow oats & specially upon light ground & dry/ how be it they will grow on weter ground than any corn else for weet ground is good for no manner of corn/ and three London bushels will sow an acre. And it is to be known that there be three manner of oats/ that is to say/ read oats/ black oats/ & rough oats. Reed oats are the best oats/ and when they be threshed they be yellow in the bushel/ & very good to make oatmeal of. Black oats are as great as they be/ but they have not so much flower in them/ for they have a thicker husk and also they be not so good to make oatmeal of.  
The rough oats be the worst oats/ and it quiteth not the cost to sow them/ they be very light & have long tails/ whereby they will hang each one to other. All these manner oats wear the ground very sore/ and maketh it to be quyche. ¶ A young husband ought to take heed how thick he soweth all manner of corn two or three years/ & to see how it cometh up, & whether it be thick enough or not/ and if it be thine/ sow thicker the next year/ & if it be well/ hold his hand there other years/ and if it be to thine/ let him remember himself whether it be for the unsesonablenes of the wether/ or fere of thine sowing. And so his wisdom and discretion must discern it.   

¶ To harow all manner of corns.  
NOw these lands be ploughed & the corns sown it is convenient that they be well harowed/ or else crows/ doves/ and other birds will eat and bear away the corns. It is used in many countries husbands to have an ox harowe/ the which is made of six small pieces of timber called harowe bulls made either of ash or oak/ they be two yards long and as much as the small of a man's leg/ & have shoots of wood put through them like lathes/ and in every bull are two sharp pieces of iron/ called harow tyndes/ set some what a slope forward/ & the foremost slote must be bigger than the other/ because the foot team shallbe fastened to the same with a shakell or a with to draw by. This harowe is good to break the great clots/ and to make moche mould/ and than the horse harrows to come after to make the clots smaller/ and to lay the ground even. ¶ It is a great labour and pain to the oxen to go to harow/ for they were better to go to the plough two days than to harowe one day. It is an old saying/ the ox is never woe/ till he to the harow go. And it is because it goeth by wytches/ and not always after one draft. The horse harow is made of fine bulls/ and pass not an elle of length/ and not so much as the other/ but they be like sloted & tynded. And when the corn is well covered/ than it is harowed enough. There be horse harrows that have tyndes of wood/ and those be used moche about Ryppon & such other places where be many bulder stones/ for these stones would wear the iron to soon/ & those tyndes be most commonly made of the ground end of a young ash/ and they be more than a foot long in the beginning/ & stand as much above the harowe as beneath. And as they wear or break they drive them down lower/ & they would be made long before or they be occupied that they may be dry/ for than they shall endure & last moche better & stick the faster. The horses that shall draw these harrows must be well kept & shod or else they will soon be tired/ and sore bete/ that they may not draw. They must have hombers or collars/ holmes withed about their necks/ tresses to draw by/ and a swyngletre to hold the tresses abroad/ and a togewith to be between the swyngleter & the harow. And if the barley ground will not break with harrows but be clotty it would be beaten with malles/ & not straight down for than they beat the corn into the earth. And if they beat the clot on the side it will the better break. And the clot will lie light that the corn may lightly come up. And they use to role their barley ground after a shower of rain/ to make the ground even to mow.   

¶ To fallow▪  
NOw these husbands have sown their pease beans/ barley & oats/ and harowed them/ it is the best time to falow in the latter end of March & Apryll/ for wheat/ rye/ & barley. And let the husband do the best he can to plough a broad forow and a deep/ so that he turn it clean and lay it flat/ that it rear not on the edge/ the which shall destroy all the thystyls and weeds. For the deeper & the brother that he goeth/ the more new mould/ and the greater clots shall he have/ and the greater clots the better wheat/ for the clots keep the wheat warm all winter/ and at March they will melt and break and fall in many small pieces/ the which is a new dunging and refreshing of the corn. And also there shall but little weeds grow upon the falowes that are so fallowed/ for the plough goth underneath the roots of all manner of weeds/ & turneth the rote upward that it may not grow/ & if the land be fallowed in winter time it is far the worse for three principal causes/ One is/ all the rain that cometh shall wash the land & drive away the dung and the good molden that the land shallbe moche the worse. another cause the rain shall beat the land so flat/ bake it so hard to guider that if a dry may come/ it will be to hard to steer in the month of June. And the third cause is/ The weeds shall take such rote or steering time come/ that they will not be clean turned underneath/ the which shallbe great hurt to the corn when it shallbe sown and specially in the time of wedding of the same/ & for any other thing make a deep hollow forow in the ridge of the land/ & look well thou rest baulk it not/ for and thou do/ there will be many thystyls/ & than thou shalt not make a clean ridge at the first stering and therefore it must needs be dep●plowed/ or else that shall not turn the weeds clean   

¶ To carry out dung or muck & to spread it.  
ANd in the later end of Apryll and the begin ning of may is time to carry out his dung or muke/ and to lay it upon his barley ground. And where he hath barley this year/ sow it with wheat or rye the next time it is fallowed/ & so shall he muck all his lands over at every second fallow. But that husband that can find the means to carry out his dung/ & to lay it upon his land after it be ones stirred/ it is much better than to lay it upon his fallow for divers causes. One is/ if it be laid upon his fallow all that falleth in the hollow ridge shall do little good/ for when it is rygged again/ it lieth so deep in the earth it will not be ploughed up again/ except that when he hath spread it/ that he will with a shovel or a spade cast out all that is fallen in the ridge. And if it be laid upon the sturing/ at every ploughing it shall meddle the dung and the earth together/ the which shall cause the corn much better to grow and increase. And in some places they load not their dung till harvest be done/ & that is used in the farther side of Darbysshyre/ called Scaresdale/ Halomshyre/ and so northward toward ●orke & Ryppon/ and that I call better than upon the fallow/ and specially for barley/ but upon the first stirring is best for wheat and rye/ and that his dung be laid upon small heaps nyghtogyder/ & to spread it evenly and to leave no dung there as the muck heap stood/ for the moistness of the dung shall cause the ground to be rank enough. And if it be meddled witherth/ as sh●lynges and such other/ it will last the longer/ & better for barley than for wheat or rye/ because of weeds. Horse dung is the worst dung that is. The dung of all manner cattle that chew their cud is very good And the dung of doves is best/ but it must be laid on the ground very thin.   

¶ To set out the sheep fold.  
ALso it is time to set out the sheepfold in May & to set it upon the rye ground/ if thou have any/ and to flit it every morning or night/ and in the morning when he cometh to his fold/ let not his sheep out anon/ but raise them up & let them stand still a good season/ that they may dung & piss. And go among them to see whether any of them have any mathes/ or be scabbed/ & see them three or four times on the one side/ & as oft on the other side. And when the kelles be gone beside the ground/ than let them out of the fold/ & drive them to the soundest place of the field, But he that hath a fallow field several to himself/ let him occupy no fold/ for folding of sheep maketh them scabbed/ & bredethmathes/ and when a storm of ill wether cometh in the night they can not fly nor go away/ & that appeyreth them sore of their flesh. But let that man that hath such a several fallow field/ let him drive. rx. or xxx or xl stakes according to the number of his sheep upon his fallow where he would set his field/ & specially in the farthest part of the field from thence as they come in/ for the going upon doth moche good. And let the shepherd bring his sheep to the stakes/ & the sheep will rub them on the stakes. And let the shepherd go about them till they be set/ & thus serve them two or three nights/ & they will follow those stakes as he flitteth them & sit by them. And if any ill wether come/ they will rise up and go to the hedge. And this manner of folding shall breed no mathes nor scabs/ nor apeyre them of their flesh/ and shall be a great save guard to the sheep for rotting/ and in the morning put them out of their pasture/ & thou shalt not need to buy any hurdles nor shepeflekes/ but how ye shall salve them or dress them ye shall understand it in the chapter of sheep after.   

¶ To carry wood and other necessaries.  
ANd in May when thou hast fallowed thy ground and set out thy sheepfold and carried out thy dung or muke/ if thou have any wood/ coal or timber to carry/ or such other business that must needs be done with thy cart or wain/ than is it time to do it. For than the way is like to be fair and dry/ and the days long/ and that time the husband hath leeste to do in husbandry. peradventure I set one thing to be done at one time of the year/ and if the husband should do it/ it should be a greater loss to him in an other thing/ wherefore it is most convenient to do that thing first that is most profitable to him/ & as soon as he can/ to do the other labour.   

¶ To know divers manner of weeds.  
IN the later end of may & the beginning of June/ is time to weed thy corn. There be divers manner of weeds/ as thystyls/ kedlokes/ dockes/ cocledrake/ darnolde/ gouldes/ haudodes/ dog●enell/ mathes/ terre/ & divers other small weeds. But these be they that grieve most. The thystyll is an ill weed rough & sharp to handle/ & fretteth away the corns nigh it/ & causeth the sterers not to shear clean. Kedlo kes hath a leaf like rapes/ & beareth a yellow flower/ & is an ill weed/ & groweth in almaner corn/ & hath small cods/ & groweth like mustard sede. Dockes have a broad leaf/ & divers high spires/ & very small seed in the top. Cockole hath a long small lief/ and will bear. v. or. vi. flowers purple colour as broad as a groat/ & the seed is round & black/ and may well be suffered in brèèd corn/ but not in seed/ for therein is moche flower. Drake is like unto rye till it begin to ●ede/ & it hath many sedes like fennel sedes & hangeth downward/ and it may well be suffered in breed/ for there is moche flower in the sede/ and it is an opinion that it cometh of rye. &ce. Dernolde groweth up straight like an high grass/ and hath long sedes on either side the start/ & there is moche flower in that sede/ and groweth moche among barley/ and it is said that it cometh of small barley. golds hath a short jagged leaf/ and groweth half a yard high/ and hath a yellow flower as broad as a groat/ and is an ill weed/ and groweth commonly in barley & peas. Hawdod hath a blue flower and a few little leaves/ and hath five or two branches flowered in the top/ and groweth commonly in rye upon lean ground/ & doth little hurt. Dogsenell & mathes is both one/ and in the coming up is like fennel/ & beareth many white flowers with a yellow sede/ and it is the worst weed that is/ except terre/ and it cometh most commonly when great weet cometh shortly after the corn be sown. Terre is the worst weed/ and it never doth appear till the month of June/ and specially when there is great weet in that moan or a little before/ & groweth most in rye/ & it groweth like fitches/ but it is much smaller/ and it will grow as high as the corn/ & with the weight thereof it pulleth the corn flat to the earth and fretteth the ears away. wherefore I have seen husbands mow down the corn and it together. And also with sharp hokes to reap it as they do peas and made it dry/ & than it will be good fodder. There be other weeds not spoken of/ as dye/ nettyls/ dodder/ and such other do moche harm.   

¶ How to weed corn.  
NOw it would be known how these corns should be wedded. The chief instrument to weed with is a pair of tongues made of wood/ and in the farther end it is nycked to hold the weed faster/ and after a shower of rain it is best wedding/ for than they may be pulled up by the rotes/ & than it cometh never again And if it be dry wether/ than must ye have a wedding hook with a socket set upon a little staff of a yard long/ & this hook would be well steeled & ground sharp both behind & before. And in his other hand he hath a forked stick a yard long/ & with his forked stick he putteth the weed from him & he putteth the hook beyond the rote of the weed & pulleth it to him & cutteth the wede fast by the earth/ & with his hook he taketh up the weed and casteth it in the rain/ & if the rain be full of corn it is better to stand still when it is cut & wydre/ but let him beware that he tread not to much upon the corn and specially after it be shot/ & when he cutteth the weed that he cut not the corn/ & therefore the hook would not pass an inch wide. And when the wede is so short that he can not with his forked pike put it fro him/ & with the hook pull it to him/ than must he set his hook upon the weed fast by the earth & put it fro him/ & so shall he cut it clean. And with these two instruments he shall never stoop at his wacke. Dogfenell/ golds mathes & kedlokes are ill to weed after this manner/ they grow upon so many branches hard by the earth and therefore they use most to pull them up with their hands/ but look well that they pull not up the corn with all/ but as for tar there will no wedding serve.   

¶ The first stirring.  
ALso in June is time to rygge up thy fallow/ the which is called the first stirring/ and to ●lowe it as deep as he can for to turn the roots of the weeds upward/ that the son & the dry wether may kill them. And an husband can not conveniently blow his land and load out his dung both upon a day with one draft of beasts/ but a husband may well load out his dung before none/ & to load hay or corn at after none/ or he may blow before none/ and load hay or corn after none with the same draft/ & no hurt to the cattle/ because in loading of hay or corn the cattle is always eating or beyting/ and so they can not do in loading of dung and ploughing.   

¶ To mow grass.  
ALso in the later end of June is time to begin to mow/ if thy meadow be well grown/ but how so ever they be grown in July they must needs mow for divers causes. One is/ it is not convenient to have hay & corn both in occupation at one time An other is the younger and the green that the grass is/ the softer and the sweeter it will be when it is hay/ but it will have the more wyddring/ and the elder the grass is/ the harder and drier it is/ and the worse for all manner of cattles/ for the sedes be fallen which is in manner of prouandre/ and it is the harder to eat and chowe. And an other cause/ if dry wether come it will dry and burn upon the ground and waste it away. Take heed thy mower mow clean and hold down the hinder hand of his sith/ that he do not endente the grass/ and to mow his swath clean thorough to that that was last mown before/ that he leave not a mane between/ and specially in the common meadow/ but in the several meadow it maketh the less charge/ and that the moldywarpe hills be spread/ & the sticks clean piked out of thy meadow in Apryll or in the beginning of may.   

¶ How forks and rakes should be made.  
A Good husband hath his forks & rakes made ready in the winter before/ and they would be got between michaelmas and Martylmasse/ and beyked/ and set even to lie upright in thy hand/ and than they will be hard/ stiff & dry. And when the husband sitteth by the fire and hath nothing to do than may he make them ready/ & tooth the rakes with dry wethy wood/ & bore the holes with his wimble both above & under/ & drive the teeth upward fast & hard/ & than wedge them above with dry wood of oak for that is hard/ & will drive & never come out. And if he get them in sap time all the beyking & drying that can be had shall not make them hard & stiff/ but they will always be plyeng/ for they be most commonly made of hazel & with/ & these be the trees that bloom and specially hazel/ for it beginneth to bloom as soon as the leaf is fallen/ and if the rake be made of green wood/ the heed will not abide upon the steel/ & the teeth will fall out when he hath most need to them/ & let his work & lose moche hay. And see that thy rake and fork lie upright in thy hand/ for and the one end of thy rake or the side of thy fork hang down ward than they be not handsome nor easy to work with.   

¶ To tedde and make hay.  
when thy meadows be mowed they would be well tedded & laid even upon the ground/ & if the grass be very thick it would be shaken with hands/ or with a short pykforke/ for good tedding is the chief point to make good hay/ for than shall it be wyddred all in like/ or else not/ & when it is well wyddred on the oversyde and dry/ than turn it clean before noon as soon as the dew is gone. And if thou dare trust the wether/ than let it lie so all night/ and on the next day turn it again before none/ & toward night make it in wyndrowes & than in small heycockes/ & so to stand one night at the lest & sweet/ & on the next fair day cast it abroad again/ & turn it once or twice/ and than make it in greater heycockes/ & to stand so one night or more/ that it may ungyve and sweet/ for & it sweat not in the heycokes it will sweet in the mow/ & than it will be dusty & not wholesome for horse/ beasts/ nor sheep. And when it standeth in the cocks it is better to load/ and the more hay may be loaded at a load/ and the faster it will lie. Quyche hay cometh of a grass called crofote/ & groweth flat after the earth/ & beareth a yellow flower half a yard high & more/ & hath many knots toward the rote/ & it is the best hay for horses & beasts/ and the sweetest if it be well got/ but it will have moche more wyddring than other hay/ for else he will bepysse himself and wax hot/ and after dusty. And for to know when it is wydred enough/ make a little rope of the same that ye think should be most grenest/ & twine it as hard together between your hands as ye can/ & so being hard town let one take a knife & cut it fast by your hand/ & the knots will be moist if it be not dry enough/ short hay & lay hay is good for sheep & all manner of cattle if it be well get, A man may speak of making of hay & getting of corn/ but god disposeth and ordereth all things.   

¶ How rye should be shorn.  
ANd in the later end of July or the beginning of August is time to shear rye/ the which would be shorn clean and fast bound. And in some places they mow it/ the which is not so good to the husbands perfect/ but it is the sooner done. For when it is mown it will not be so fast bound/ & he can not gather it so clean but there will be much lost/ and taketh more room in the barn than shorn corn doth. And also it will not keep nor save itself fro rain or ill weather when it standeth in the cover/ as shorn corn will do.   

¶ How to shear wheat.  
wheat would be shorn clean & hard bound in like manner/ but for a general rule/ take good heed that the shearers of all manner of white corn cast not up their hands hastily/ for than all the loose corn & the straws that he holdeth not fast in his hand flieth over his heed & are lost/ and also it will pull of the ears/ & specially of the corns that be very ripe. In some places they will shear their corns high to the intent to mow their stubble/ either to thank or to bren/ if they so do they have great cause to take good heed of the shearers/ for if the ears of the corn croak down to the earth/ if the shearer take not good heed/ & put up the ear or he cut the straw/ as many ears as be under his hook or sycle fall to the earth and be lost/ & when they mow the stubble it is great hindrance to the profit of the ground. And in Somerset shire about zelcester & Martocke/ they do shear their wheat very low/ and all the wheat straw that they purpose to make thank of/ they do not thresh it but cut of the ears and bind it in sheves/ and call it read/ and therewith thank their houses. And if it be a new house/ they thack it under their foot/ the which is the best & the surest thacking that can be of straw for crows and doves shall never hurt it.   

¶ To mow or shear barley and oats.  
BArley and otesbe most commonly mown/ and a man or woman following the mower with a hand rake half a yard long/ with. seven. or. viii. teeth in his lift hand/ and a sickle in his right hand/ & with the rake he gathereth as much as will make a shefe/ & than he taketh the barley or oats by the tops and pulleth out as much as will make a band/ and casteth the band from him on the land/ & with his rake and his sickle taketh up the barley or oats/ and layeth them upon the band/ & so the barley lieth unbound three or four days if it be fair weather/ and than to bind it. And when the barley is led away the lands must be raked/ or else there will be much corn lost/ & if the barley or oats lie/ they must needs be shorn.   

¶ To reap or mow peas and branes.  
Peses and beans be most commonly last reaped or mown of divers manners/ some with syckles/ some with hooks/ and some with staff hooks. And in some places they lay them on repes/ & when they be dry they lay them to gydre on heaps like hay cocks and never bind them. But the best way is when the repes be dry to bind them/ & to set them on the ridge of the land three shreves to gydre/ and look that your shears/ repers'/ nor mowers geld not your beans/ that is to say/ to cut thy beans so high that the nethermost cod grow still on the stalk/ and when they be bound they are the more readier to load and unload/ to make a reek/ and to take fro the mow to thresh. And so be not the repes.   

¶ How all manner of corns should be tithed.  
NOw all these corns before specified be shorn mowed/ reaped bound up/ and laid upon the iydge of the land. Than let the husband take heed of god's commaundement● & let him go to the end of his land and begin and tell ix sheves/ & let him cast out the ten sheaf in the name of god/ & so to peruse from land to land/ till he have truly tithed all his corn. And beware & take heed of the saying of our lord by his prophet Malachias/ the which sayeth▪ Quia michi non dedis●● decimas et premitias id circo in fame ●t penuria maledicti estis. That is to say/ because ye have not given to me your tithes & your first fruits therefore ye be cursed & punished with hunger & penury. And according to that saint Austyn sayeth. Da decimas alioquin incides in decimam partem angelorum qui de celo corruersit in infern●. That is to say/ give thy tithes truly/ or else thou shalt fall among the tenth part of angels that fell from heaven in to hell the which is an hard word to every man that ought to give tithes/ and doth not give them truly. But saint Austyn saith a comfortable word again to them that give their tithes truly/ that is to say. Decime sunt tributa egentium alarun. Tithes are tributes or rewards to needy soul's/ & ferther he saith. Si decimam dederis non solum habūdātiā fruetuum recipies/ sedetiam sanitatem corporis et aīe consequeris. That is to say/ if thou have given thy tithes truly/ thou shalt not all only receive the profit & the abundance of goods but also health of body and soul shall follow. would to god that every man knew the hard word of our lord by his prophet Malachias/ and also the comfortable words of the holy saint Austyn. For than would I trust verily/ that tithes should be truly given.   

¶ How all manner of corn should be covered.  
NOw these corns be shorn and bound & then tithes cast out/ it is time to cover them/ shaken them or half throve them/ but covering is the best way of all manner of white corn. And that is to set four sheves on one side and four sheves on tother side/ & two sheves above of the greatest bound hard nigh to that neither end/ the which must be set upward and the top downward spread abroad to cover all that other sheves. And they will stand best in wind/ & save themself best in rain/ & they would be set on the ridge of the land & the side sheves to lean together in the tops and wide at the ground/ that the wind may go through to dry them. Pees & beans would be set on the ridge of the land three sheves together the tops upward and writhen together/ & wide beneath/ that they may the better wyddre.   

¶ To load corn and mow it.  
When all these corns be dry & wydred enough than load them into the barn/ & lay every corn by itself. And if it be a weet Harvest/ make many mows/ & if y● have not housing enough/ than it is better to lay thy peses & beans without upon a reek than other corn/ & it is better upon a scaffold than upon the ground/ for than it must be well hedged for swine & cattles/ & the ground will rot the bottom/ & the scaffold saveth both hedging & roting/ but they must be well covered both. And the husband may set sheep or cattles under the same scaffold/ & will serve him in stead of an house/ if it be well & surely made. etc.   

¶ The second stirring.  
IN August and the beginning of September is time to make his second stirring/ & most commonly it is cast down and ploughed a main forowe not to deep nor to ebb/ so he turn it clean. And if it be cast/ it would be water forowed between the lands there as the rain should be/ and it will be the drier when the land should be sown. And if the lands lie high in the ridge/ and high at the rain/ and low in the mids of the side that the water may not run easily in to the rain/ as Isee daily in many places. Than let the husband set his plough iii or four foot fro the ridge/ & cast all the ridge on both sides/ and when the ridge is cast/ set his plough there as he began & ridge up the remnant of the land/ & so is the land both cast & rydged/ & all at one plowynye. And this shall cause the land to lie round when it is sown at the next time/ & than shall it not drown the corn.   

¶ To sow wheat or rye.  
About michaelmas it is time to sow both wheat & rye/ wheat is most commonly sown under the forowe/ that is to say/ cast it upon the falow & than plough it under. And in some places they sow their wheat upon their pease stubble/ the which is never so good as that that is sown upon the fallow/ & that is uled where they make fallow in a field every fourth year. And in Essex they use to have a child to go in the forow before the oxen or horses/ with a bag or a hopper full of corn/ & he taketh his hand full of corn/ by little and little casteth it in the said forow/ Me seemeth the child had need have moche discretion How be it there is much good corn/ and rye is most commonly sown above and harowed/ and two London bushels of wheat and rye will sow an acre. Some ground is good for wheat/ some for rye/ and some is good for both/ & upon that ground sow blend corn that is both wheat & rye/ which is the surest corn of growing/ & good for the husbands householdde.  
And this wheat that shall be meddeled with rye must be such wheat as will soon be ripe/ and that is flaxen wheat/ polerde wheat/ or white wheat. And ye shall understand that there be divers manner of whets Flaxen wheat hath a yellow ear and bare without anise/ and is the brightest wheat in the bushel▪ and will make the whitest breed/ and it will wear the ground sore/ & is small straw and will grow very thick/ and is but small corn. Polerde wheat hath no anis thick set in the ear/ and will soon fall out & is greater corn & will make white breed/ white wheat is like polerde wheat in the bushel/ but it hath anise & the ear is four square & will make white breed/ & in Essex they call flaxen wheat white wheat. Reed wheat hath a flat ear/ an inch broad full of anis/ & is the greatest corn/ & the brodest blades/ & the greatest straw/ and will make white breed/ & is the ruddest of colour in the bushel. english wheat hath a dun ear/ few anis or none/ and is the worst wheat/ save peek wheat. Peeke wheat hath a reed ear/ full of anis thine set/ and oft times it is flyntered/ that is to says/ small corn wryngeled & dried/ & will not make white breed/ but it will grow upon cold ground.   

¶ To thresh and wynowe corn.  
THis wheat & rye that thou shalt sow aught to be very clean of weed/ and therefore or thou thresh thy corn open thy sheves & pike out all manner of weeds/ and than thresh it & wynowe it clean end so shalt thou have good clean corn an other year. And in some countries about London specyall●/ & in Essex & Kent they do fan their corn/ the which is a very good guise and a great safeguard for shedding of the corn. And when thou shalt sell it/ if it be well wynowed or fande/ it will be sold the dearer/ & the light corn will serve the husband in his house.   

¶ To sever peas/ beans/ and fitches,  
when thou hast threshed thy peses & beans/ after they be wynowed/ & or thou shalt sow them or sell them let them be well reed with syves/ & severed in three parts the great fro the small/ & thou shalt get in every quarter a London bushel or there about. For the small corn lieth in the hollow & void places of the great beans/ & yet shall the great beans be sold as dear as and they were all to guider or dearer/ as a man may prove by a familiar ensample▪ Let a man buy. C. herrings. two. herrings. a penny/ & another. C. herrings three for a penny/ & let him sell these. CE. herrings again. v. herrings for. i●. d. now hath he lost. iiij. d. For. C. herrings two for. j d. cost. v. s. and C. heryng● iij. for a penny cost. iij. s. and. iiij. d. the which is. viii. s. and. iiij. d. and when he selleth. v. herrings for. ij. d. xx. herrings cometh but to. viii. d. and there is but. xii. score herrings/ & that is but. xii. groats. and. xii. groats. and that cometh but to. viii. s. and so he hath lost iiii. d. & it is because there be not so many bargeynes/ for in the buying of these. CC. herrings there be five score bargeyns/ and in the selling of the same there be but. xlviij. bargains/ and so is there is lost ten herrings/ the which would have been two bargains more/ and than it had been even and mete. And therefore he that buyeth gross sale/ and retayleth must needs be a winner/ and so shalt thou be a loser if thou sell thy pease/ beans/ & fitches to guider/ for than thou sellest gross sale. And if thou sever them in three parts than thou dost retail/ whereby thou shalt win.   

¶ Of sheep/ and what time of the year the rams should be put to the ewes.  
AN husband can not well thrive by his corn without he have other cattles/ nor by his cattle without corn/ for else he shall be a bier/ a borower/ or a beggar. And because the sheep in mine opinion is the most profitablest cattles that any man can have/ therefore I purpose to speak first of sheep. Than first it is to be known what time thou shalt put thy rams to thy ewes/ & therein I make a distyntion/ for every man may not put to their rams all at one time/ for & they do/ there will be great hurt & loss/ for that man that hath the best sheep pasture for winter and soon springing in the beginning of the year/ he may suffer his rams to go with his ewes all times of the year/ to ●●yssome or ride when they will/ but for the common pasture it is time to put to his rams at the Exaltacy on of the holy cross/ for than the buck goeth to the rot/ & so would the ramme. But for the common husband that hath no pasture but the common fields it is time enough at the fest of saint Mychael the arcchangell. And for the poor husband of the peek or such other that dwell in hilly and high grounds that have no pastures nor common fields/ but all only the common heath. Simon and Jude day is good time for them/ and this is the reason why. An ewe goeth with lamb twenty weeks/ and shall eyane her lamb in the. xxi. week/ and if she have not convenient new grass to eat/ she may not give her lamb milk/ and for want of milk there be many lambs perys●hed and lost/ and also for poverty the dams will lack milk and forsake their lambs/ and so often times they die both in such hard countries.   

¶ To make an ewe to love her lamb.  
IF thy ewe have milk & will not love her lamme put her in a narrow place made of boards or of smooth trouse a yard wide/ and put the lamb to her and socle it/ and if the ewe smite the lamb with her heed/ bind her heed with a hay rope or a cord to the side of the pen/ & if she will not stand side long all the ewe and give her a little hay/ and tie a dog by her that she may see him/ and this will make her to love her lamb shortly. And if thou have lamb deed whereof the dam hath moche milk/ flay that lamb and tie that skin upon an other lambs back that hath a sorry dam with little milk/ and put the good ewe and that lamb to gydre in the pen/ & in one hour she will love that lamb/ and than mayst thou take thy sorry week ewe away/ & put her in an other place/ and by this means thou may fortune to save her life and thy lambs both.   

¶ what time lambs should be waned.  
IN some places they never sever their lambs from their damines'/ and that is for to causes/ One is/ in the best pasture where the rams go always with their ewes there it needeth not/ for the dams will wax dry & wain their lambs themself. another cause is/ he that hath no several and sound pasture to put his lambs unto when they should be waned he must either sell them or let them souke as long as the dams will suffer them/ & it is a common saying that the lamb shall not rot as long as it souketh● except the dam want meat. But he that hath several and sound pastures it is time to wain their lambs when they be. xvi. weeks old/ or. xviii. at the farthest/ and the better shall the ewe take the ram again. And the poor man of the peek country and such other places where as they use to milk their ewes/ they use to wain their lambs at. xii. weeks old/ and tomylke their ewes five or two weeks. etc. But those lambs be never so good as the other that souke long and have meat enough.   

¶ To draw sheep and sever them in divers places.  
THan thou grazier that hast many sheep in thy pastures/ it is convenient for the to have a sheep fold made with a good hedge or a pale/ the which will receive all thy sheep easily that go in one pasture set between two of thy pastures in a dry place/ & ad joining to the end of the same/ make an other little fold that will receive. lxxxx. sheep or more/ and both those folds must have either of them a gate in to either pasture/ & at the end of that fold make an other little fold that will receive. xl. sheep or more/ and between every fold a gate. And when the sheep are in the great fold let. xl. of them or there about come in to the middle fold & steke the gate. And than let the shepherd turn them & look them on every side/ and if he see or find any sheep that needeth any helping or mending for any cause/ let the shepherd take that sheep with his hook & put him in the little fold. And when he hath taken all that needeth any mending/ than put the other in to whether pasture he will/ and let in as many out of the great fold/ & take all those that need any handling and put them in to the little fold. And thus peruse them all till he have done/ & than let the shepherd go belt/ grese/ & handle all those that he hath drawn/ & than shall not the great flock be tarried nor kept fro their meat/ and as he hath mended them so put them in to their pasture▪   

¶ To belt sheep.  
IF any sheep ray or be filed with dung about the tail/ take a pair of shears and clip it away/ & cast dry moulds thereupon/ & if it be in the heat of the summer/ it would be rubbed ever with a little tar to keep away the flies. It is necessary that a shepherd have a board set fast to the side of his little fold to lay his sheep upon when he handleth them and an hole bored in the board with an augur/ & therein a grained stake of two foot long to be set fast/ to hang his tar box upon/ and than it stall not fall. And a shepherd should not go without his dog/ his sheep hook/ a pair of shears/ and his tar box/ either with him or ready at his sheep fold/ & he must teach his dog to bark when he would have him to run when he would have him/ & to leave running when he would have him/ or else he is not a cunning shepherd. The dog must learn it when he is a whelp or else it will not be/ for it is hard to make an old dog to stoop.   

¶ To grease sheep.  
IF any sheep be scabbed/ the shepherd may perceive it by the biting/ rubbing/ or scratching with his horn/ & most commonly the will will rise & be thine or bare in that place/ than take him & shed the will with thy fingers there as the scab is/ & with thy finger lay a little tar there upon/ and struck it a length in the bottom of the will that it be not seen above. And so shed the will by and by and lay a little tar thereupon till thou pass the sore/ and than it will go no farther.   

¶ To meddle terre.  
LEt thy tar be meddled with oil/ goose grease or capons grease/ these three be the best/ for these will make the tar to run abroad/ butter & swines grease when they be melted are good/ so they be not salt/ for tar of himself is to keen/ & is a fretter and no healer/ without it be meddled with some of these.   

¶ To make broom salve.  
¶ A medicine to salve poor men's sheep that think tar to costly/ but I doubt not but & rich men knew it they would use the same.  
TAke a sheet full of broom crops/ leaves/ blossoms & all/ and chop them very small/ and than seethe them in a pan of. xx. gallons with running water/ till it begin to wax thick a jelly than take two pound of sheep suet melted/ and a potel of old piss/ & as much brine made with salt/ & put all in to the said pan and stir it about/ and than strain it thorough an old cloth/ and put it in to what vessel ye will/ & if your sheep be new clipped/ than make it lukewarm/ & than wash your sheep there with a sponge or a piece of an old mantel/ or of falding/ or such a soft cloth or wool/ for spending to much of your salve. And at all times of the year after ye may relent it & need require/ and make wide s●eydes in the will of the sheep/ and anoint them with it/ and it shall heal the scab and kill the sheep lice/ and it shall not hurt the will in the sale thereof. And those that be washen will not take scab after (if they have sufficient meet) for that is the best grease that is to a sheep to grease him in the mouth with good meet/ the which is also a great safeguard to the sheep for rotting/ except there come myldewes/ for he will choose the best if he have plenty. And he that hath but a few sheep moderate this medicine according.   

¶ If a sheep have mathes.  
IF a sheep have mathes ye shall perceive it by her biting or frisking or shaking of her tail and most commonly it is moist and wet/ and if it be nigh unto the tail it is oft times green and filed with his dung/ and than the shepherd must take a pair of shears and clip away the will bare to the skin/ and take a hand full of dry moulds & cast the moulds thereupon to dry up the weet/ and than wipe away the moulds/ and lay tar there as the mathes were and a little farther. And thus look them every day/ and mend them if they have need.   

¶ blindness of sheep and other diseases/ and remedies therefore.  
THere be some sheep that will be blind a season and yet mend again. And if thou put a little tar in his eye/ he will mend the rather. There be divers waters & other medecyns would mend him/ but this is the most common medicine that shepherds use.   

¶ The worm in a sheeps foot/ and help therefore.  
THere be some sheep that have a worm in his foot that maketh them to halt. Take the sheep and look between his clese/ and there is a little hole as much as a great pins heed/ & therein groweth five or two black hears like an inch long & more take a sharp pointed knife and slit the skin a quarter of an inch long above the hole/ & as moche beneath/ and put his one hand in the hollow of the foot under the hinder clese/ & set his thumb above almost at the slit & thrust his fingers underneath forward/ & with your other hand take the black hears by the end/ or with the knives point/ and pull the hears a little and a little/ and thrust after his other hand with his finger and his thumb/ & there will come out a worm like a piece of flesh nigh as much as a little finger. And when it is out/ put a little tar into the hole/ and it will be shortly hole.   

¶ The blood/ and remedy if he come bytyme.  
THere is a sickness among sheep is called the blood/ that sheep that hath that will die suddenly/ and or he die he will stand still and hang down the heed and otherwhyse quake. If the shepherd can espy him/ take him and rub him about the heed/ and specially about his ears/ and under his eyen/ & with a knife cut of his ears in the mids/ & also let him blood in a vain under his eyen/ and if he bleed well/ he is like to live/ and if he bleed not than kill him & save his flesh/ for if he die ●y himself/ the flesh is lost/ & the skin will be far ru● dyer like blood more than an other skin shall be. And it taketh most commonly of the fattest & best liking.   

¶ The pocks/ and remedy therefore.  
THe pocks appear upon the skin/ and are like red pimples as broad as a farthing & there will die many. And the remedy therefore is to handyll all thy sheep/ and to look on every part of their bodies/ and as many as ye find taken therewith/ put them in fresh new grass/ and keep them fro their fellows/ and to look his flock oft/ and draw them as they need. And if it be in summer time that there be no frost/ than wash them. How be it some shepherds have other medecyns.   

¶ The wood evil/ and remedy therefore  
THere is a sickness among sheep/ is called the wood evil/ and that cometh in the spring of the year/ and taketh them most commonly in the legs or in the neck/ & maketh them to halt/ & to hold their necks awry. And the most part that have that sickness will die shortly in a day or two. The best remedy is to wash them a little/ & to change their ground and to bring them to low ground & fresh grass. And that sickness is most commonly on hilly ground/ ●●y ground/ & ferny ground. And some men use to let them blood under the eye in a vain for that same cause.   

¶ To wash sheep.  
IN June is time to shear sheep/ and or they be shorn/ they must be very well washen/ the which shallbe to the owner great profit in the sale of his will/ & also to the cloth maker/ but yet beware that thou put not to many sheep in a pen at one time neither at the washing nor at the shearing/ for fere of murdering or over pressing of their fellows/ & that none go away till he be clean washen/ & see that they that hold the sheep by the heed in the water/ hold his heed high enough for drowning.   

¶ To shear sheep.  
TAke heed of the shearers for touching the sheep with the shears/ & specially for pricking with the point of the shears/ & that the shepherd be alway ready with his tarboxe to salve them. And see that they be well marked/ both ere mark/ pitch mark/ and radell mark/ & let the will be well folden or wounden with a will wynder that can good skill thereof/ the which shall do much good in the sale of the same.   

To draw and sever the bad sheep from the good.  
When thou hast all shorn thy sheep/ it is than best time to draw them/ and so sever them in divers sorts. The sheep that thou wilt feed by themself/ the ewes by themself/ the share hogs/ and theyves by themself/ the lambs by themself/ wedders and the rams by themself/ if thou have so many pastures for them/ for the bigest will beat the weykest with his heed. And of every sort of sheep/ it may fortune there be some that like not and be week/ those would be put in fresh grass by themself/ and when they be a little mended? than sell them/ & oft change of grass shall mend all manner of cattle.   

¶ what thing rotteth sheep.  
IT is necessary that a shepherd should know what thing rotteth sheep/ that he might keep them the better. There is grass called sperewort/ and hath a long narrow lief like a spear heed/ & it will grow a foot high/ & beareth a yellow flower as broad as a penny/ & it groweth always in low places where the water is used to stand in winter. another grass is called penny grass/ & groweth low by the earth in a marsshe ground/ & hath a leaf as broad as a penny of two pens/ & never beareth flower. All manner of grass that the land flood runneth over is very ill for sheep because of the sand & filth that sticketh upon it. All marreys ground & marasshe ground is ill for sheep/ the grass that groweth upon falowes is not good for sheep/ for there is moche of it weed/ and oftentimes it cometh up by the rote/ & that bringeth earth with it/ and they eat both. etc. Myldewe grass is not good for sheep/ and that shall ye know to ways. One is by the leaves on the trees in a morning/ and specially of oaks/ take the leaves and put thy tongue to them/ and thou shalt feel like honey upon them/ and also there will be many kelles upon the grass/ & that causeth the myldew. wherefore they may not well be let out of the fold till the son have domination to dry them away. Also hunger rot is the worst rot that can be/ for there is neither good flesh nor good skin/ & that cometh for lack of meat/ and so for hunger they eat such as they can find/ and so will not pasture sheep/ for they selden rote but with myldewes/ and than they will have moche tallow and flesh/ and a good skin. Also white sneles be ill for sheep in pastures & in falowes. There is an other rot is called pelte rot/ and that cometh of great weet/ specially in wood countries where they can not dry.   

¶ To know a rotten sheep divers manner wayess whereof some of them will not fail.  
TAke both your hands & twyrle upon his eye and if he be ruddy & have red stryndes in the white of the eye/ than he is sound/ and if the eye be white like tallow and the stryndes dark coloured/ than he is rotten. And also take the sheep & open the will on the side/ and if the skin be of ruddy colour and dry/ than is he sound/ and if it be pale coloured and watery/ than is he rotten. Also when ye have opened the will on the side/ take a little of the will between thy finger and thy thumb and pull it a little/ and if it stick fast he is sound/ and if it come lightly of: he is rotten. Also when thou hast killed a sheep his belly will be full of water if he be sore rotten/ & also the fat of the flesh will be yellow if he be rotten. And also and thou cut the liver/ therein will be little quikens like flokes/ and also the liver will be full of knots & white blisters if he be rotten/ & also seethe the liver/ if he be rotten it will break in pieces/ & if he be sound/ it will hold to guider.   

¶ To buy lean cattles.  
THese husbands & they shall well thrive/ they must have both kine/ oxen/ horses/ mares/ and young cattles/ and to rear and breed every year some calves & fools/ or else shall he be a byet. And if thou shalt buy oxen for the plough/ se that they be young and not gouty/ nor broken of here/ neither of tail/ nor of pysell. And if thou by kine to the pail/ se that they be young & good to milk/ & fede her calves well. And if y● buy kine or oxen to feed/ the younger they be? the rather they will fede/ but look well that the here stare not/ & that he lick himself/ and be hole mouthed/ & want no teeth. And though he have the gout and be broken both of tail & pysell/ yet will he feed. But the gouty ox will not be driven far/ & see that he have a broad rib & a thick hide/ & to be lose skinned that it stick not hard nor strait to his rib/ for than he will not feed.   

¶ To buy fat cattle.  
ANd if thou shalt buy fat oxen or kine/ handle them/ & see that they be soft on the fore crop/ behind the shoulder/ and upon the hyndermost rib/ and upon the hucklebone/ and the nache by the tail And see the ox have a great cod/ & the cow great navyll/ for than it should seem that they should be well talowed. And take heed where thou buyest any lean cattle or fat/ & of whom/ & where it was bred. For if thou buy out of a better ground than thou hast thyself/ that cattles will not like with the. And also look that there be no manner of sickness among the cattle in that towneshyp or pasture that thou buyest thy cattle out of. For if there be any murrain or long sought it is great Jeopardy/ for a best may take sickness ten or twelve days or more or it appear on hyn.   

¶ diverse sickness of cattles/ and remedies therefore/ and first of murrain.  
ANd if it fortune to fall murrain among thy beasts/ as god forbid/ there been enough can help them. And it cometh of a rankness of blood/ and appeareth most commonly first in the heed/ for his heed will swell/ & his eyen wax great/ and run of water and froth at the mouth/ and than he is past remedy/ and will die shortly/ and wyil never eat after he be sick. Than flay him and make a deep pit fast by there as he dieth and cast him in/ and cover him with earth that no dogs may come to the carryen. For as many beasts as feeleth the smell of that carryen are likely to be infect/ and take the skin/ and have it to the tanner's to sell/ and bring it not home for peril that may fall. And it is commonly used & cometh of a great charity/ to take the bare head of the same best and put it upon a long pole and set in a hedge fast bound to a stake by the high way side/ that every man that rideth or goeth that way/ may see and know by that sign that there is sickness of cattle in the townshyppe. And the husbands hold on opinion/ that it shall the rather cease. And when the beast is slain there as the murrain doth appear between the flesh and the skin/ it will rise up like a jelly/ and froth an inch deep or more. And this is the remedy for the murrain, Take a small curteyn cord & bind it hard about the beasts neck/ and that will cause the blood to come into the neck/ and on either side of the neck there is a vain that a man may feel with his finger/ and than take a blood yren/ & set it straight upon the vain/ and smite him blood on both sides/ and let him bleed the mountenaunce of a pint or nigh it/ & than take away the cord & it will staunch bleeding. And thus serve all thy cattle that be in that close or pasture/ & there shall no more be seek by gods leave.   

¶ Long sought/ and remedy therefore.  
THere is an other manner of sickness among beasts is called long sought/ & that sickness will endure long/ and ye shall perceive it by his hoisting/ he will stand moche and eat but a little and wax very hollow and thine. And he will hoist twenty times in an hour/ and but few of them do mend. The best remedy is to keep thy cattle in sundry places/ and as many as were in company with that best that first fell seek/ to let them a little blood. And there be many men that can sever them/ & that is to cut the dewlap before/ and there is a grass that is called fetter grass/ and take that grass and bryse it a little in a mortar/ and put thereof as much as an hens egg in to the said dewlappe/ and see it fall not out. Thus I have seen used/ and men hath thought it hath done good.   

Dewbolue/ and the hard remedy therefore.  
ANother disease among beasts is called dewbolue/ and that cometh when a hungry beast is put in a good pasture full of rank grass/ he will eat so moche that his sides will stand as high as his back bone/ & otherwhile the one side more than the other/ & but few of them will die/ but he may not be driven hastily nor laboured being so swollen/ & the substance of it is but wind/ and therefore he would be softly driven & not sit down. How be it I have seen a man take a knife and thrust him through the skin and the flesh two inches deep or more/ two inches or more from the ridge bone/ that the wind may come out. For the wind lieth between the flesh and the great paunch.   

¶ Risen upon/ and the remedy therefore.  
ANother disease is called risen upon/ & no man can tell how nor whereof it cometh/ but ye shall perceive that by swelling in the heed/ & specially by the eyen/ for they will run on water & close his sight & will die shortly within an hour or two/ if he be not holpen/ this is the cause of his disease. There is a blister risen under the tongue/ the which blister must be slit with a knife a cross. when ye have pulled out the tongue rub the blister well with salt/ and take an hens egg/ & break it in the beasts mouth shell & all/ & cast salt to it/ & hold up the beasts heed/ that all may be swallowed down into the body. But the breaking of the blister is the great help/ & drive the be'st a little about/ & this shall save him by the help of Jesus.   

¶ The turn/ and remedy therefore.  
THere be beasts that will turn about when they at their meet/ and will not feed/ and is great jeopardy for falling in pits/ dyches/ or waters/ and it is because that there is a bladder in the forehead/ between the brain pan and the brains the which must be taken out/ or else he shall never mend/ but die as length/ and this is the remedy and the greatest cure that can be on a be'st. Take that best and cast him down and bind his four feet to guider/ & with thy thumb thrust the best in the forehead/ and where thou findest the softest place/ there take a knife and cut the skin three or four inches on both sides between the horns/ & as much beneath toward the nose/ and flay it and turn it up/ and pin it fast with a pin/ & with a knife cut the brain pan two inches broad & three inches long/ but see the knife go no deeper than the thickness of the bone for perishing of the brain/ and take away the bone/ and than thou shalt see a bladder full of water two inches long and more/ take that out & hurt not the brain and than let down the skin/ & sow it fast there as it was before/ & bind a cloth two or three fold upon his forehead to keep it from cold and weet. ten or. xii. days. And thus have I seen many mended. But if the best be salt and any reasonable meet upon him it is best to kill him/ for than there is but little loss/ and if the bladder be under the horn/ it is past cure. A sheep will have the turn as well as a beast/ but I have seen none mended. etc.   

¶ The warrybrede/ and the remedy therefore.  
THere be beasts that will have marry bredes in divers parties of their body and legs/ and this is the remedy. Cast him down and bind his four feet to gydre/ and take a culture or a pair of tongues or such an other iron/ & make it glowing hot/ and if it be a long warrybrede: sear it hard of by the body/ and if it be in the beginning/ and be but flat/ than lay the hot iron upon it and sear it to the bare skin/ and it will be hole for ever/ be it horse or best.   

¶ The foul/ and the remedy therefore.  
THere be beasts that will have the foul/ and that is between the cleese/ sometime before/ and sometime behind/ and it will swell and cause him to halt/ and this is the remedy. Cast him down and bind his four feet to guider/ and take a rope of hear/ or a hey rope/ hard writhen to guider/ and put it between his clese/ and draw the roope to and fro a good season/ till he bleed well/ and than lay to it soft made terre/ and bind a cloth about it/ that no mire nor gravel come between the clese/ and put him in a pasture/ or to stand still in the house/ & he will be shortly hole.   

¶ The gout without remedy.  
THere be beasts that will have the gout/ and most commonly in the hinder feet/ & will cause him to halt & go starkely. And I never knew man that could help it or find remedy therefore/ but all only to put him in good grass and feed him.   

¶ To rear calves.  
IT is convenient for a husband to rear calves▪ and specially they that come between Candelmasse and may/ for that season he may spare milk best/ and by that time the calf shall be waned there will be grass enough to put him unto. And at winter he will be big enough to save himself among other beasts/ with a little favour. And the dam of the calf shall bull again and bring an other by the same time of the year/ and if thou shalt tarry till after May/ the calf would be weak in winter/ & the dam would not bull again but oft time go barren. And if thou shalt rear a calf that cometh after michaelmas/ it will be costly to keep the calf all the winter season at hay/ & the dam at hard meet in the house/ as they use in the plain champion countries. And a cow shall give more milk with a little grass and straw dying without in a close/ than she shall do with hay and straw dying in a house/ for the hard meat drieth up the milk. But he that hath no pasture must do as he may/ but yet is it better to the husband to sell those calves than to rear them because of the cost/ and also for the profit of the milk to his house/ & the rather the cow will take the bull. If the husband go with an ox plough/ it is convenient that he rear two ox calves/ & two cow calves at the lest to uphold his stock/ and if he may do more? it will be more profit. And it is better to wain thy calves at grass than at hard meet/ if they went to grass before. And that man that may have a pasture for his kine & an other for his calves/ & water in them both/ than may he rear & breed good beasts with light cost. And if thou wain thy calves with hay/ it will make them have great belies/ & the rather they will rot when they come to grass/ and in winter they would be put in a house by themself & given hay on the nights/ & put in a good pasture on the day/ and they shall be moche better to handle when they shall be kine or oxen.   

¶ To geld calves.  
IT is time to geld his ox calves in the old of the moan/ when they be ten days or. xx. days old▪ for than it is lest jeopardy/ and the ox shall be the more higher and the longer of body/ and the longer horned/ and that may be well proved to take two ox calves both of one kind/ one making/ and both of one age/ geld one of them/ and let the other go forth & be a bull. And put them both in one pasture till they be four or five year old/ and than shall ye see the ox caife far greater every way than the bull/ there is no cause but the gelding/ and if thou geld them not till they be a year old/ there is more jeopardy/ he shall be less of body/ and shorter horned.   

¶ Horses and mares to draw.  
A Husband may not be without horses and mares or both/ and specially if he go with a horse plough/ he must have both his horses to draw/ and his mares to bring colts to uphold his stock/ and yet at many times they may draw well/ if they be well handled. But they may not bear sacks/ nor be ridden upon no journeys when they be with fool/ & specially when they have gone with fool. xx. or. xxiii. weeks/ for than is the greatest jeopardy. For and she be ridden upon and set up hot/ or turned out & take cold/ she will cast her fool/ the which would be a great loss to the husband. For she will labour and bear when she hath fooled/ and draw when she is with fool as well as the horse. It is convenient for the husband to know when his mare would be horsed. It is the common saying/ that she will take the horse within ix. or x. days next after that she hath fooled but that saying I hold not with for & she so do/ she will not hold thereto/ for the horse doth drive her to it But. xx. days after is timely enough to bring her to a horse/ for she will not hold to it/ except she be keen of horsing & that shall ye know by her shap/ for that will twyrl●o●en and close again many times in an hour/ and than bring her to a horse & let her be with him a day or a night/ and that is sufficient. For it is better to keep the horse from the mares/ than to go with them for divers causes/ & specially he shall be more lusty/ & the more horse colts shall he get. But he that hath very many mares may not alway attend them/ but let them go together & take as god sends it Some men hold an opinion/ that put a horse to a mare in the beginning of the moan after it be prime/ & he shall get a horse fool. And some men say the contrary that and he be put to the mare in the old of the moan he should gear horse fools. And I say it maketh no matter whether/ for this cause I have proved. I have myself lx. mares and more/ able to bear the horse/ & from may day unto saint Barthy●mewes day/ I have. v. or. vi. horses going with them both day & night/ & at the foling time I have upon one day a horse fool/ & on the next day or second a mare fool/ & on the third or fourth day next after a horse fool again/ and so every week of both sorts/ and by their opinion or reason I should have xiiii days together horse fools/ and other xiiii days together mare fools. And me seemeth that those men that hold the opinion speak sophistically/ that if so be they laid any wagers there upon/ that they should both win in their own conceit by this reason. ¶ whether it were get in the new of the moan or in the old of the moan/ it is a horse fool because a horse gate it/ though it be a fely fool & it is a mare's fool because a mare foaled it/ though it be a horse colt, And so (diversis respectibus) their opinions may be true. But of one thing I am certain▪ that some one horse will get more horse fools than some other horse will do/ and likewise a mare will bear more mare fools/ than some other mare will do/ though they be horsed both with one horse. Me seemeth there is no reason why/ but the lustynes of the nature of both parties whether of them shall have the domination. But and ye have mares of divers colours▪ than do as I do/ sever them in divers parcels/ and put to your white mares a grey horse/ or a white horse that hath no white rathe in the forehead/ & to your grey mares a white horse/ so that he be not all white skinned about the mouth. And to your mares of colour that have no white upon them a coloured horse that hath much white on him/ and to your coloured mares of main white a horse of colour of main white. And thus shall ye have well coloured colts/ it maketh no matter of what colour the horse be of/ so he be neither white nor grey. For and ye put a white horse to a coloured mare/ she shall have most commonly a sandy colt like an iron grey/ neither like sire nor dame. How be it I have seen and known many mares that will have their colt like the horse that gate it/ the which is against kind of mares/ for a man may rather get one good horse than many good mares.   

¶ The losses of a lamb/ a calf/ or a fool.  
IT is less hurt to a man to have his cow to cast her calf/ than an ewe to cast her lamb For the calf will souke as much milk or it be able to kill as it is worth/ and of the ewe cometh no profit of the milk but the lamb. How be it they use in some places to milk their ewes when they have waned their lambs/ but that is great hurt to the ewes/ and will cause them that they will not take the ram at the time of the year for poverty/ but go baubyn. And if a mare cast her fool/ that is thrice ●o great a loss/ for if that fool becomen of good breed as it is necessary every man to provide/ for as much costs and charges hath a bad mare as a good. In short space the fool with good keeping may be sold for as much money as would buy many calves and lambs.   

¶ what cattle should go together in one pasture.  
BEest● alone/ nor horses alone/ nor sheep alone except it be sheep upon a very high ground/ will not eat a pasture even/ but leave many tufts & high grass in divers places/ except it be over laid with cattle. wherefore know that horses and beasts will agree well in one pasture/ for there is some manner of grass that a horse will eat/ & a be'st will not eat/ as the fitch's/ flasshes & low places/ and all the hollow bunnes & pipes that grow therein. But horses and sheep will not so well agree/ except it be sheep to feed/ for a sheep will go on a bare pasture and will eat the sweetest grass/ & so will a horse/ but he would have it longer. How be it he will eat as nigh the earth as a sheep/ but he can not so soon fill his belly. To an hundred beasts ye may put. xx horses/ if it be low ground/ and if there be grass enough put in a hundred sheep/ and so after the rate be the pasture more or less. And after this manner they may feed and eat the close even & leave but few tufts. And if it be an high ground/ put in more sheep and less beasts and horses Mel che kine and draft oxen will eat a close moche barer than as many fat kine and oxen. And a melche cow may have to moche meet/ for and she wax fat she will the rather take the bull/ & give less milk/ for the fatness stoppeth the pores and the veins that should bring the milk to the paps. And therefore mean grass is best to keep her in a mean estate And if a cow be fat when she shall calf/ than is there great jeopardy in her/ and the calf shall be the less/ but ye can not give your draft ox to moche meet/ except it be the aftermath of a late mown meadow/ for that will cause him to have the gyrre/ and than he may not well labour/ And there be to much grass in a close▪ the cattle shall feed the worse/ for a good bit to the earth is sufficient/ for and it be long/ the beast will bite of the top and no more/ for that is sweetest/ and the other lieth still upon the ground and rotteth/ and no beast will eat it but horse in winter/ but these beasts/ horses/ and sheep may not be fodered to guider in winter/ for than they would be severed/ for else the beasts with their horns will put both the horses and the sheep/ and gore them in their bellies. And it is necessary to make standing cratches to cast their fodder in/ and the staves set nigh enough to guider for pulling their fodder to hastily ●●t for shedding. And if it be laid upon the e●th/ the fourth part thereof will be lost. And if ye lay it upon the earth/ lay it every time in a new place/ for the old will mar the new.   

¶ The properties of horses.  
THou grazier that may fortune to be of mine opinion or condition/ to love horses & young colts or fools to go among thy cattles/ take heed that thou be not beguiled as I have been an hundred times or more. And first thou shalt know that a good horse hath liiij properties/ that is to say ii of a man ii of a bauson or a badger four of a lion ix of an ox ix of a hare ix of a fox ix of an ass/ and ten of a woman.  

¶ The two propretyes that a horse hath of a man.  
¶ The first is to have a proud heart/ and the second is to be bold and hardy.   

¶ The two properties of a bauson.  
¶ The first is to have a white race or a ball in the forehead the second to have a white foot.   

¶ The four properties of a Lyon.  
¶ The first is to have a broad breast/ the second to be stiff docked the third to be wild in countenance/ the fourth to have four good legs.   

¶ The ix properties of an ox.  
¶ The first is to be broad ry●bed/ the second to be low brawned/ the third to be short pasturned the fourth to have great sinews/ the fifth to be wide between the challes/ the sixth is to have great no●e thrills/ the vii to be big on the chin/ the viii to be fate & well fed/ the ix to be upright standing.   

¶ The ix properties of an hare.  
¶ The first is stiff eared/ the second to have great eyen/ the third round eyen/ the fourth to have a lean heed/ the fift to have lean knees/ the sixth for to be wight on foot▪ the seventh to turn upon a little ground/ the viii to have short buttocks/ the. ix to have two good fylettes.   

¶ The ix properties of a fox.  
¶ The first is: to be prick eared/ the second to be little eared/ the third to be round ●yded the ●o●●th to be side tailed/ the fift to be short legs/ the sixth to be black legged the. seven. to be short trotting/ the viii. to be well coloured/ the. ix. to have a little heed.   

¶ The nine properties of an ass.  
¶ The fyr●t is to be small mouthed/ the second to be long rained/ the third to be thine cressid/ the fourth to be straight backed/ the fylt to have small stones/ the sixth to be ●athe legged the. seven. to be round footed/ the viii. to be hollow footed/ the. ix. to have a tough hoof.   

¶ The ten properties of a woman.  
¶ The first is to be merry of cheer/ the second to be well paced/ the third to have a broad forehead/ the fourth to have broad buttocke●/y● fift to be hard of ward/ the sixth to be asy to leap upon/ the. seven. to be good at ● long journey/ the. viii. to be well stirring under a man/ the. ix. to be always busy with the mouth/ the. x. ever to be chowing on the bridle.  
¶ It might fortune I could shows as many defaults of horses as here be good properties/ but than I should break my promise that I ma●e at Grombalde bridge the first time that I went to Ryppon to buy colts. But it is to suppose that if a horse want any of these good properties/ that he should have a default in the same place. And that is sufficient for this tyme.    

¶ The diseases & sorance of horses.  
NOw it is to be known/ the sorance and diseases of horses/ and in what parts of their bodies they be/ that a man may the rather perceive than And how be it that it may be against my profit/ yet I will show you such as cometh to my mind.  

¶ The lampas.  
¶ In the mouth is the lampas/ & is a thick skin full of blood hanging over his teeth above/ that he may not eat.   

¶ The barbs.  
¶ The barbs be little paps in a horse mouth/ and let him to bite/ twese two be soon helped.   

¶ mourning of the tongue.  
¶ mourning of the tongue is an ill disease/ & hard to be cured.   

¶ Pursy.  
¶ Pursy is a disease in a horse body/ & maketh him to blow short and appeareth at his nose thrills/ and cometh of cold/ and may be well mended.   

¶ Broken winded.  
¶ Broken wynded is an ill disease/ and cometh of running or riding over moche/ and specially shortly after he is watered/ & appeareth at his nose thryll/ at his flank/ & also at his tuell/ and will not be mended and will much blow and cough if he be sore chafed and it will least appear when he is at grass.   

¶ Glanders.  
¶ Glanders is a disease that may be mended/ and cometh of a heat and a sudden cold/ and appeareth at his nose thrills and between his chall bones.   

¶ mourning on the chine.  
¶ Mourning on the chine is a disease incurable/ & it appeareth at his nose thryll like oak water. A glaunder when it breaketh is like matter. Broken winded & pursyfnes is but short blowing.   

¶ Stranguelyon.  
¶ Stranguelyon is a light disease to cure/ & a horse will be verysore sick thereof/ & cometh of a chafing hot that he sweet/ and after it will rise and swell in divers places of his body as much as a man's fist/ and will break by itself if it be kept warm/ or else is there jeopardy.   

¶ The haw.  
¶ The haw is a sorance in a horse eye/ and is like a grystell/ & may well be cut out/ or else it will have out his eye/ & that horse that hath one/ hath commonly two.   

¶ Blindness.  
¶ A horse will wax blind with labour/ and that may be cured betime.   

¶ Uives.  
¶ The vives is a sorance under a horse ear between the over end of the chal bones and the neck/ and are round knots between the skin and the flesh like tens balls/ & if they be not killed/ they will wax quick & eat the roots of the horse ears & kill him▪   

¶ The cords.  
¶ The cords is a thing that will make a horse to stumble & oft to fall/ and appeareth before the further legs of the body of the horse/ & may well be cured in two places/ and there be but few horses but they have part thereof.   

¶ The farcyon.  
¶ The farcyon is an ill sorance/ & may well be cured in the beginning/ and will appear in divers plates of his body/ and there will rise pimples as much as half a walnutshell/ and they will follow a vain and will break by itself. And as many horses as do play with him that is sore and gnappe of the matter that runneth out of the sore/ shall have the same sorance within a month after/ & therefore keep the seek from the hole. And if that sorance be not cured betime/ he will die of it.   

¶ A malander.  
¶ A malander is an ill sorance/ and may well be cured for a time/ but with ill keeping it will come again/ and appeareth on the further legs in the bending of the knees behind/ and is like a scab or a scale. And some horses will have two upon a leg within an inch together/ and they will make a horse to stumble/ and otherwhile to fall.   

¶ A selander.  
¶ A selandre is in the bending of the leg behind like as the malander is in the bending of the leg before/ and is like a malander/ & may be well cured.   

¶ A serewe.  
¶ A serew is an ill sorance/ and is like a splent/ but it is a little longer and more/ and lieth up to the knee on the inner side. And some horses have a through serewe on both sides of the leg/ and that horse must needs stumble and fall/ and hard it is to be cured.   

¶ A splente.  
¶ A splent is the lest sorance that is/ that always continueth/ except lampas. And many men take upon them to mend it▪ and do pair it.   

¶ A ryngbone.  
¶ A ryngbone is an ill sorance/ and appeareth before on the foot above the hoof as well before as behing and will be swollen three inches broad/ & a quarter of an inch or more of height/ & the hear will stare & wax thine/ and will make him to halt/ & is ill to cure if it grow long.   

¶ wyndgalles.  
¶ wyndgalles is a light sorance/ & cometh of great labour/ & appeareth on either side of the joint above the fetelocke/ as well before as behind/ and is a little swolllen with wind.   

¶ Morfounde.  
¶ Morefounde is an ill sorance/ & cometh of riding fast till he sweet/ and than set up suddenly in a cold ●lace without instituter/ and take cold on his feet/ & specially before/ and appeareth under the hoof in the heart of the foot/ for it will grow down & wax white and cromely like a pomys. And also it will apere by process by the wrynckles on the hoof/ and the hoof before will be thicker and more brickle then & he had not been morefounde/ nor he shall never tread so boldly upon the hard stones as he did before/ but he will not be able to bear a man of a quarter of a year or more/ and with good parting and shoeing as he ought to be/ he will do good service.   

¶ The colts evil.  
¶ Colts evil is an ill disease/ and cometh of rankness of nature and blood/ and appeareth in his scot/ for there will he swell great and will not be hard●● and soon cured in the beginning.   

¶ The botts.  
¶ The botts is an ill disease/ & they lie in a horse maw/ and they be an inch long/ white coloured/ & a reed heed/ & as much as a fingers end/ and they be quick/ & stick fast in the maw side/ it appeareth by stamping of the horse or tumbling/ & in the beginning there is remedy enough/ and if they be not cured betime/ they will eat through his maw and kill him.   

¶ The worms.  
¶ The worms is a light disease/ and they lie in the great paunch in the belly of the horse/ and they are shining/ of colour like a snake/ two inches in length/ great in the mids/ and sharp at both ends/ and as moche as a spyndell/ and will soon be killed.   

¶ Affreyd.  
¶ Affreyd is an ill disease/ & cometh of great labour and riding fast with a continual sweet/ & than suddenly to take a great cold/ his legs will be stiff and his skin will stick fast to his syddes/ & may be well cured.   

¶ Navylgall.  
¶ Navyllgall is a sorance hurt with a saddle/ or with the buckle of a croper or such other/ in the mids of the back/ and may lightly be cured.   

¶ A spaven.  
¶ A spaven is an ill sorance/ whereupon he will halt and specially in the beginning/ & appeareth on the hinder legs within/ and against the joint/ & it will be a little swollen and hard. And some horses have through spaven/ and appeareth both within and without/ and those be ill to be cured.   

¶ A courbe.  
¶ A courbe is an ill sorance/ and maketh a horse to halt sore/ & appeareth upon the hinder legs straight behind under the camborell place/ & a little beneath the spaven/ and will be swollen and ill to cure/ if it g●owe long upon him.   

¶ The string halt.  
¶ The string halt is an ill disease/ and maketh him to twyche up his leg suddenly/ and maketh him to halt/ and cometh oft with a cold/ & doth not apere outward.   

¶ Enterfyre.  
¶ Enterfyre is a sorance/ and cometh of ill shoeing/ ●●d appeareth oft both behind and before between the feet against the fetelockes/ there is no remedy but good shoeing.   

¶ Myllettes.  
¶ Myllettes is an evil sorance/ and appeareth in the fetlocks/ behind/ and causeth the here to shed three or four inches of length/ and a quarter of an inch in breed/ like as it were bare and ill to cure/ but it may be perceived and specially in winter tyme.   

¶ The pains.  
¶ The pains is an ill sorance/ and appeareth in the fetlocks/ and will swell in winter time and oyse of water/ and the hear will stare and be thine/ and ill to cure/ but it will be seen in winter▪   

¶ Cratches.  
¶ Cratches is a sorance that will cause a horse to halt/ and cometh of ill keeping/ and appeareth in the pasturnes/ like as the skin were cut overthwart that a man may lay a wheat straw/ and it is soon cured.   

¶ attaint.  
¶ Ateynt is a sorance that cometh of an over reching if it be before/ & if it be behind/ it is of the treading of an other horse/ the which may be soon cured.   

¶ Gravelling.  
¶ Gravelling is a hurt that will make a horse to halt/ and cometh of gravel and little stones that goeth in between the shoe and the heart of the foot/ and is soon mended,   

¶ A cloyed.  
¶ A cloyed is an hurt that cometh of evil shoeing/ when a smith driveth a nail in to the quick/ the which will make him to halt/ and is soon cured.   

¶ The scab.  
¶ There is a disease among horses that is called the scab/ and it is a scorfe in divers places of his body. And it cometh of a poverty and ill keeping/ and is most commonly among old horses/ & will die there upon/ and may be well cured.   

¶ Lousy,  
¶ There be horses that will be lousy/ and it cometh of poverty/ cold/ and ill keeping/ and it is most commonly among young horses/ and men take little heed unto it/ and yet they will die thereupon/ and it may be soon cured.   

¶ warts.  
¶ There is a default in a horse that is neither sorance hurt nor disease/ & that is if a horse want warts behind beneath the spaven place/ for than he is no chapmans' ware if he be wild/ but and he be tame & have been riden upon/ than caveat emptor/ beware the buyer for the bier hath both his eyen to see/ & his hands to handle. It is a saying/ that such a horse should die suddenly when he hath lived as many years as the moan was days old at such time as he was soied.   

¶ The saying of the frenshe man.  
¶ These be sorance/ hurts/ & diseases that now become to my mind/ and the frenshe man saith. Mort ●●●angue et de eschyne/ sount maladies sans medicine. The mourning of the tongue & of the chine/ are diseases without remedy or medicine/ And farther he saith. Gatdes bien que il soyt cler de view▪ que tout travail ne soit perdue. Be well aware that he be clear of sight/ lest all thy travail or journey be lost ere night. And because I am a horse master myself? I have showed you the sorance and diseases of horses/ to the intent that men should beware and take good heed what horses they buy of me or of any other, How be it I say to my customers and those that buy any horses of me/ & ever they will trust any horse master or corser while they live? trust me,    

¶ The diversity between a horse master▪ a torser/ and a horse leech.  
A Horse master is he that buyeth wild horses/ or colts/ or breedeth them and selleth them again wild/ or breaketh part of them and maketh them tame/ & than selleth them. A corser is he that buyeth all rydden horses and selleth them again. The horse leech is he that taketh upon him to cure & mend all manner of diseases and sorance that horses have. And when these three be met/ if ye had a apothecary to make the fourth/ ye might have such four/ that it were hard to trust the be●t of them. It were also convenient to show medicines & re●●iedyes for all these diseases & sorances'/ but it would be to long a process at this time/ for it would be as much as half this book. And I have not the perfit cunning nor the experience to show medicines & remedies for them all. And also the horse leech would not be content therewith/ for it might fortune to hur●e or hinder their occupation.   

¶ Of swine.  
NOw thou husband that hast both horses and mares/ beasts/ and sheep. It were necessary also that thou have both swine and bees/ for it is an old saying/ he that hath both sheep/ swine & bees/ sleep he wake he/ he may thrive. And that saying is because that they be those things that most profit riseth in shortest space with the least cost. Than see how many swine thou art able to keep/ let them be bores and sows all/ and no hogs. And if thou be able to rear vi. pigs a year/ than let two of them be bores/ and four of them sows/ & so to continue after the rate. For a boar will have as little keeping as a hog/ & is moche better than a hog/ and more meet on him and is ready at all times to eat in the winter season/ & to be laid in sowse. And a sow or she be able to kill shall bring forth as many pigs or more as she is worth/ and her body is never the worse/ & will be as good baken as a hog and as little keeping/ but at such time as she hath pigs. And if thy sow have more pigs than thou wilt rear/ cell them or eat them/ and rear those pigs that come about lenten time/ specially the beginning of summer/ for they can not be reared in winter for cold without great cost.   

¶ Of bees.  
OF bees is little charge/ but good attendance at the time that they shall cast the swarm. It is ●●●enyent that the hive be set in a garden or an orchyarde/ where as they may be kept from the north wind/ and the mouth of the hive toward the son And in June and July they do most commonly cast/ & they would have some low trees nigh unto them before the hive/ that the swarm may light upon/ and when the swarm is knit/ take a hive and splent it within with three or four splentes/ that the bees may knit their combs unto/ and anoint the splentes & the sides of the hive with a little honey. And if thou have no honey take sweet cream/ & than set a stole or a form nigh unto the swarm/ & lay a clean washen she●e upon the stole/ and than hold the small end of the hive downward/ & shake the bees in to the hive and worthy set it upon the stole and turn up the corers of the sheet over the hive/ and to leave one place open that the bees may come in & out/ but thou mayst not fight nor strive with them for no cause/ & to lay nyttyls upon the bows where as they were knit/ to drive them fro that place/ and so watch them all that day that they go not away/ and at night when all be gone up in to the hive/ take it away and set it where it shall be/ & take away thy sheet/ and have clay ready tempered to lay it about upon the board or stone where it shall stand/ that no wind come in/ but the board is better and warmer. And to ●●aue an hole open on the south side of three inches broad/ and an inch of height for the bees to come in and out And than to make a covering of wheat straw or ●ye straw to cover and house the hive about/ and set the hive two foot or more from the earth upon stakes/ so that a mouscanne not come to it/ and also neither beasts nor swine. And if a swarm be cast late in the year/ they would be fed with honey in winter/ and laid upon a thin narrow board/ or a thin s●la●e or lead and put it in to the hoof/ and another thin board would be set before every hives mouth that no wyndecome in/ and to have four or five little nyckes made on the neither side/ that a be may come out or go in/ & so fastened that that wind blow it not down and to take it up when he will. And that hive that is fed/ to stop the mouth clean that other bees come not in/ for and they do/ they will fight and kill each other. And beware that no wasps come in to the hive/ for they will kill the bees/ & eat the honey. And also there is a Bee is called a drone/ and she is greater than an other be/ and they will eat the honey and gather nothing/ and therefore they would be killed/ & it is a saying that she hath lost her sting and than she will not labour as the other do.   

¶ How to keep beasts and other cattle.  
IF a hushande shall keep cattle well to his profit/ he must have several closes and pastures to put his cattle in/ the which would be well quick setted/ dyched/ and hedged that he may sever his bigest cattle from the weykest at his pleasure/ and specially in winter time when they shall be fodered. And though a man be but a farmer/ & shall have his farm. xx. years/ it is less cost for him/ & more profit to quyckset dyche & hedge/ than to have his cattle go before the herdman. For let/ the husband spend in three years as much money as the keeping of his beasts swine and sheep doth cost him in three years. Than alway after he shall have all manner of cattle with the tenth part of the cost/ and the beasts shall like moche better. And by this reason the herdman will have for every be'st. two. d. a quarter/ or there about. And the swyneherde will have for every swine a penny at the least. Than he must have a shepherd of his own/ or else he shall never thrive. Than reckon meet/ drink & wages for his shepherd/ the herdmannes' hire and the swyneherdes' hire/ these charges will double his rent or nigh it/ except his farm be above xl. s. by year. Now see what his charges be in. three years let him ware as much money in quycksetting/ dy● thing & hedging/ & in three years he shallbe discharged for ever more/ & moche of this labour he & his servants may do with their own hands/ and save moche money. And than hath he every field in severalty/ and by the assents of the lords & the tenants every neighbour may exchange lands with other. And than shall his farm be twice so good in profit to the tenant as it was before/ & as much land kept intyllage/ and than shall not the rich man over eat the poor man with his cattle/ & the fourth part of hay & straw shall serve his cattle better in a pasture than four times so moche will do in a house & less attendance/ & better the cattles shall like/ & the chief safeguard for corn both day & night that can be.   

¶ To get sets and set them.  
ANd if thou have pastures? y● must needs have quick setting/ dyching/ & plasshing/ when it is green & cometh of age. Than get thy quycksettes in the wood country/ and let them be of white thorn and crabtre/ for they be best/ holy and hazel be good. And if thou dwell in the plain country/ than mayst thou get both ash/ oak & elm/ for they will encreas moche wood in short space And set thy oak sets & thy a●she. x. or. xii. foot asunder/ and cut them as thou dost thy other sets/ & cover them over with thorns a little that sheep and cattle eat them not. And also weed them clean in midsummer moan/ or soon after/ for the weeds if they over grow will kill the sets. But get no black thorn for nothing/ for that will grow outward into the pasture & doth much hurt in the grass and tearing the wool of the sheep. It is good time to set quycksettes fro that time the leaves be fallen: unto our Lady day in lente/ and thy sandy ground or gravel? set first/ than clay ground/ & than mean ground/ and the meadow or marreys' ground last/ for the sand & gravel will dry anon/ & than the quyckset will take no rote/ except it have great weet/ for the moulds will lie lose/ if it be dyched in February or March/ and like wise clay ground. And make thy sets long enough that they may be set deep enough in the earth/ for than they will grow the better. And to stand half a foot and more above the earth/ that they may spring out of many branches And than to take a line and set it there as thou wilt have thy hedge/ and to make a trench after thy line & to pair away the grass where the quycksettes shall be set/ and cast it by where the earth of the dyche shall lie/ & dig up the moulds a spade graff deep/ & to put in thy sets/ & dig up more mould & lay upon that set/ & so peruse till thou have set all thy sets/ and let them leanly toward the dyche. And a foot from that make thy ditch/ for and thou make it to near thy sets/ the water may fortune to were the ground on that side/ and cause thy sets to fall.   

¶ To make a dyche.  
¶ If thou make thy dyche. iiij. foot broad/ than would it be two foot & a half deep. And if it be. v. foot broad than three foot deep/ and so according/ And if it be v. foot broad/ han it would be double set/ and the rather it would fence itself/ & the lower hedge will serve.   

¶ To make a hedge.  
THou must get the stakes of the heart of oak/ for those be best/ maleurtee/ black thorn/ & eldre be good. Reed wethy is best in marsshe ground/ as●he/ maple/ hazel/ & white thorn will serve for a time? And set thy stake within two foot & a half to gydre/ except thou have very good eddering and long to bind with. And if it be double eddered? it is much the better/ and great strength to the hedge/ & moche longer it will last. And say thy small trouse or thorns that thou hedges with all over thy quycksettes/ that sheep do not eat thy spring nor buds of thy sets. Let thy stakes be well driven that the point take the hard earth. And when thou hast made thy hedge and eddered it well/ than take thy mall again and drive down thy edderynges and also thy stakes by and by. For with the winding of the edderynges: thou dost lose thy stakes/ & therefore they must needs be driven new and hardened again/ and the better the stake will be driven when he is well bound.   

¶ To plash or pleche a hedge.  
IF the hedge be of. x. or. xii. years growing sith it was first set/ than take a sharp hatchet or a handbyll & cut the sets in a plain place nigh unto the earth the more half asunder/ and bend it down toward the earth and wrap and wind them together/ but always see that the top lie higher than the rote a good quantity/ for else the sap will not run into the top kindly▪ but by process the top will die/ and than set a little hedge on the back side/ & it shall need no more mending many years after/ And if the hedge be of. xx. xxiv. or. thirty. years of age sith it was first set/ than wind in first all the nethermost bows and wind them together/ and than cut the sets in a plain place a little from the earth the more half asunder/ and to let it slave downward & not upward for divers causes/ than wind the bows and branches thereof into the hedge/ and at every two foot or three foot to leave one growing not plached/ and the top to be cut of four foot high or there about to stand as a stake if there be any such/ or else to set another/ & to wind the other that be pleched about them. And if the bows will not lie plain in the hedge/ than cut it the more half asunder & bind it in to the hedge/ & than shall ye not need for to mend that hedge but in few places twenty years after or more. And if the hedge be old and be great stubbes or trees/ and thine in the bottom that beasts may go under or between the trees/ than take a sharp axe and cut the trees or stubbes that grow a foot from the earth or there about in a plain place within an inch or two inches of the side/ and let them slave downward as I said before/ and let the top of one tree lie over the rote of an other tree/ and to pleche down the bows of the same tree/ to stop the hollow places. And if all the hollow and void places will not be filled and stopped/ than scour the old dyche and cast it up new/ and to fill with earth all the void places. And if so be these trees will not reach in every place to make a sufficient defence/ than double quykset it and dyche it new in every place that is needful and set a hedge thereupon/ and to overlay the sets for eating of sheep or other cattle.   

¶ To mend a high way.  
ME seemeth it is necessary to show mine opinion how an high way should be amended. And first & principally see that there be no water standing in the high way/ but that it be alway currant and running/ nor have none abiding more in one place than in an other. And in summer when the water is dried up than to get gravel and do fill up every low place/ & to make them even/ somwat descending or currant one way or other/ & if there be no gravel nor stones to get/ yet fill it up with earth in the beginning of summer/ that it may be well hardened with carriage & treading upon/ & it shall be well amended if the water may pass away from it/ the which would be well considered/ & specially abou● London/ where as they make much more cost than needeth/ for there they dyche their high ways on both sides/ & fill up the hollow and low places with earth/ & than they cast & lay gravel aloft. And when a great rain or water cometh and sinketh thorough the gravel & cometh to the earth? than the earth swelleth & bolneth and waxeth soft/ and with treading/ and specially with carriage the gravel sinketh and goth downward as his nature & kind requireth/ & than it is in manner of a quick sand/ that hard it is for any thing to go over. But and they would make no dyche in somertyme when the water is dried up that a man may see all the hollow & low places/ than to carry gravel & fill it up as high as that other knolles be/ than would it not bollen ne swell nor be no quick sand/ & every man may go beside the high way with their carriage at their pleasure. And this me seemeth is less cost/ & longer will last with a little mending when need requireth. Therefore me thinketh if this were well looked upon/ it should be both good & necessary for that purpose/ for so have I seen done in other places where as I have been. etc.   

¶ To remove and set trees.  
IF thou wilt remove & set trees/ gete as many roots with them as thou can/ & break them not nor bryse them by thy will. And if there be any rote broken & sore bruised/ cut it of hard by there as it is bruised with a sharp hatchet/ else that rote will die. And if it be ash/ elm or oak/ cut of all the bows clean and save the top hole. For if thou make him rich of bows/ thou makest him▪ poor of thrift for two causes. The bows causeth them to shake with wind & to lose the roots. Also he can not be so clean get/ but some of the roots must needs be cut/ & than there will not come so moche sap and moistness to the bows as there did before/ & if if the tree be very long/ cut of the top two or three yards. And if it be an apple tree or peer tree or such other as beareth fruit/ than cut away all the water bows & the small bows that the principal bows may have the more ●ap. And if ye make a mark which side of the tree stands toward the son that he may be ●et so again/ it is so much the better.   

¶ Trees to be set without roots and grow.  
THere be trees will be set without roots and grow well & spring roots of themself. And those be divers apple trees that have ●n●tres in the bows/ as casses or wydes/ and such other that will grow on slavynges/ & likewise pepeler & wethy/ & they must be cut clean beside the tree that they grow on/ and the top cut clean of. viii. or. x. foot of length and all the bows between/ & to be set a foot deep or more in the earth in good ground. And ye shall understand that there be four manner of wethyes/ that is to say/ white wethy/ black whethy/ reed wethy/ and osyerde wethy. white wethy will grow upon dry ground/ if it be set in the beginning of winter/ & will not grow in marsshe ground/ black wethy will grow better on marsshe ground than on dry ground/ & read wethy in like manner/ and osyerde wethy will grow best in water & moist ground. And they be trees that will soon be nourys●hed/ and they will bear moche wood/ & they would be cropped every. seven. or. viii. years or else they will die/ but they may not be cropped in sap time/ nor no tree else. And in many places both the lords freholder & tenants at will set such wethyes and pepelers in marsh ground to nourysshe wood.   

¶ To fell wood for household/ or to sell.  
IF thou have any woods to fell for thy household to bren or to sell/ than fell the under wood first in winter/ that thy cattles or beasts may eat & browse the tops/ and to fell no more on a day but as much as the beasts will eat the same day/ or on the morrow after. And as soon as it is well eaten or broused/ than kid it and set them on the ends/ & that will save the bands from rotting/ & they shall be the lighter to carry/ and the better will they burn & lie in less room. And when thou shalt bring them home to make a stake of them/ set the neither moste course upon the ends/ and the second course flat upon the side and the ends upward/ and the third course flat on the side overthwart the other. And so to peruse than till thou have laid all up. And when thou shalt burn them? take the overmost first.  

¶ To shred/ lop/ or crop trees.  
IF y● have any trees to shred/ lop/ or crop/ for the fire wood/ crop them in winter/ that thy beasts may eat the browse and the moss of the bows/ and also the yves. And when they be broused and eaten/ dress the wood and bow it clean/ and cut it at every byght/ and rear the great wood to the tree/ and kid the small bows & set them on end. And if thou shalt not have sufficient wood except thou heed thy trees & cut of the tops/ than heed them three or four foot above any timber/ & if it be no timber tree but a shaken tree or a hedge rote full of knots/ than heed him thirty foot high/ or twenty at the lest/ for so far he will bear plenty of wood and bows/ and moche more than and he were not headed. For a tree hath a property to grow to a certain height/ and when he cometh to that height he standeth still/ and groweth no higher but in breed/ and in conclusion the top will die and decrese/ and the body thrive.  
And if a tree be heeded and used to be lopped and cropped at every. xii. or. xvi. years end or there about/ it will bear moche more wood by process of time then and it were not cropped/ and much more profit to the owner.   

¶ How a man should shred/ lop/ or crop trees.  
IT is the common use to begin at the top of the tree when he shall be shred or cropped/ because each bow should lie upon other when they shall fall/ so that the weight of the bows shall cause them to be the rather cut down. But that is not best/ for that causeth the bows to slave down the neither part/ and pulleth away the bark from the body of the tree the which will cause the tree to be hollow in that place in time coming/ and many times it shall hinder him. And therefore/ let him begin at the nethermost bough first/ and with a light axe/ for an hand to cut the bough on both sides a foot or two foot from the body of the tree. And specially cut it more on the neither side than on the over side/ so that the bough fall not straight down but turn on the side/ and than shall it not slave nor break no bark. And every bough will have a new heed/ and bear moche more wood/ and by thy will without thou must needs do it/ crop not thy tree/ nor specially heed him when the wind standeth in the north/ nor in the east. And beware that thou crop him not nor heed him (specially) in sap time/ for than will he die within a few years after/ if it be an oak.    

¶ To sell wood or timber.  
IF thou have any wood to sell/ I advise the retail it thyself/ if thou mayst attend upon it/ and if not/ than to cause thy bailie or some other wise or dyscret man to do it for the. And if it be small wood to kid it and sell it by the hundreds or by the thousands/ and if there be ashes in it/ to cell the small ashes to cowpers for garches/ and the great ashes to wheel wryghtes/ and the mean ashes to plough wryghtes/ and the crab trees to millers to make cogs and ronges. And if there be any oaks both great and small/ fell them and pill them/ and sell the bark by itself/ and than sort the trees/ the poles by themself/ the middle sort by themself/ & the greatest by themself/ & than sell them by scores or half scores or hundreds/ as thou mayst/ and to fell it hard by the earth/ for one foot next to the earth is worth two foot in the top/ and to cut thy timber long enough that thou leave no timber in the top. And to sell the tops as they lie a great/ or else dress them and sell the great wood by itself/ and the kid wood by it self/ and to fall the under wood first at any time between Martylmasse and holy road day. And all the ashes between Martylmasse & Candelmasse/ and all oaks as soon as they will pill until may be done/ & not after. peradventure the greatest man hath not the best provysyn. And that is because the servants will not inform him these ways/ and also may fortune they would buy such woods themself/ or be partner of the same/ and to advise his lord to sell them. It is not convenient that the salesman that selleth the wood to be partner with the bier.   

¶ To keep spring wood.  
IN the winter before that thou wilt fell thy wood: make a good and a sure hedge that no manner of cattle can get in. And as shortly as it is fallen? let it be carried away or the spring come up/ for else the cattles that doth carry the wood will eat the spring/ and when the top is eaten or broken it is a great let/ hurt/ and hindrance/ of the goodness of the spring/ for than where it is eaten/ it burges out of many branches/ and not so fair as the first would have been. A park is best kept when there is neither man/ dog/ nor four footed best therein/ except dear. And so is a spring best kept where there is neither man nor four footed beasts within the hedge/ but and there be moche grass & thou were loath to lose it/ than put in calves newly waned & take from their dams and also waning colts or horses not past a year of age. And let thy calves be taken away at may/ the colts may go longer for cating of any wood/ but there is jeopardy both for calves/ fools and colts/ for tyckes/ or for being lousy/ the which will kill them if they be not taken heed unto. And seven year is the lest that it will save itself/ but ten year is best. And than the under bows would be cut away/ and made kids thereof/ and the other will grow much the better and faster. And if the under bows be not cut away/ they will die/ and than they be lost/ & great hurt to the spring/ for they take away the sap that should cause the spring to grow better.   

¶ Necessary things belonging to graffing.  
IT is necessary/ prosytable/ and also a pleasure to a husband to have peers/ wardens/ and apples of divers sorts. And also cherries/ filberts/ ●ulleys/ dampsons/ plums/ walnuttes/ and such other. And therefore it is convenient to learn how thou shalt graff. Than it is to be known what things thou must have to graff withal. Thou must have a graffing saw/ the which would be very thine and thick tithed/ and because it is thine/ it will cut the narrower kyrfe and the clener for brysing the bark. And therefore it is set in a compass piece of iron/ two inches fro? to make it stiff & big/ thou must have also a graffing knife an inch broad with a chick back to cleave the stock withal. And also a mallet to drive thy knife and thy wedge in to the tree/ and a sharp knife to pair the stock head/ & an other sharp knife to cut the graff clean. ¶ And also thou must have two wedges of hard wood or else of iron/ a long small one for a small stock/ & a brother for a bigger stock to open the stock/ when it is cloven & pared/ and also good tough clay & moss/ and also bastes or pilling of wythy or elm to bind them with.   

¶ what fruit should be first graffed.  
PEtres and wardens would be graffed before any manner of apples/ because the sap cometh loner and rather into the peer tree and warden tree than in to the apple tree. And after saint Ualentyns day? it is time to graff both peers and wardens till March be comen/ & than to graff apples to our lady day. And than graff that that is gotten of an old apple tree first/ for that will bud before the graff goat of a young apple tree late graffed. And a peer or a warden would be graffed in a pyrre stock/ & if thou can get none/ than graff it in a crabtre stock/ and it will do well/ and some men graff them in a white thorn/ & than it will be the more harder & stony. And for all manner of apples? the crabtree stock is best.   

¶ How to graff.  
THou must get thy graffs of the fairest lanses that thou canst find on the tree/ & see that it have a good knot or joint and an even. Than take thy saw & saw in two thy crabtree in a fair plain place pair it even with thy knife/ and than cleave the stock with thy great knife & thy mallet/ and set in a wedge/ and open the stock according to the thickness of thy graff/ than take thy small sharp knife & cut the graff on both sides in the joint/ but pass not the mids thereof for no thing. And let the inner side that shall be set in to the stock be a little th'inner than the utter side/ & the nearer the neither point of the graff the th'inner/ than proffer thy graff in to the stock/ and if it go not close/ than cut the graff or the stock till they close clean/ that thou can not put the edge of thy knife on neither side between the stock and the graff/ and set them so that the tops of the graff bend a little outward/ and se that the wood of the graff be set meet with the wood of the stock that the sap of the stock may run straight and even with the sap of the graff/ for the bark of the graff is never so thick as the bark of the stock.  
And therefore thou mayst not set the barks meet on the utter side/ but on the inner side/ than pull away thy wedge/ and it will stand moche faster. then take tough clay like marley & lay it upon the stock ●eed and with thy finger lay it close unto the graff/ and a little under the heed to keep it moist/ and that no wind come in to the stock at the cleaving. Than take moss and lay there upon for chyning of the clay than take a baste of white wethy or elm/ or half a briar/ and bind the moss/ the clay/ and the graff together/ but be well aware that thou break not thy graff neither in the clayenge nor in the binding/ and thou must set some thing by thy graff that crows nor birds do not light upon thy graff/ for and they do/ they will break them.   

¶ To graff between the bark and the tree.  
THere is an other manner of graffing than this and sooner done and sooner to grow/ but it is more jeopardy for wind when it beginneth to grow Thou must saw thy stock and pair the heed thereof/ as thou didst before/ but cleave it not/ than take thy graff & cut it in the joint to the mids/ & make the tenant thereof half an inch long or a little moreal on the one side/ & pair the bark away a little at the point on the other side/ than thou must have made ready a ponche of hard wood with a stop and a tenant on the one side like to the tenant of the graff. Than put the tenant of the ponche between the bark & the wood of the stock/ and pull it out again & put in the graff/ & see that it join close or else mend it. And this can not fail/ for n●w the sap cometh on every side but it will spring so fast/ that yfit stand on plain ground/ the wind is likely to blow it beside the heed/ for it hath no fastness in the wood. And this is the best remedy for blowing of/ to cut or clip away some of the nethermest leaves as they grow. And this is the best way to graff/ and specially a great tree. than clay it and bind it as thou didst the other.   

¶ To nourish all manner of stone fruit and nuts.  
AS for cherries/ dampsons/ bulleys/ plums/ and such other may be set on the stones/ and also of the sciences growing about the tree of the same/ for they will soonest bear. filberts and wall nuts may be set on the nuts in a garden/ & after removed and set where he will. But when they be▪ removed/ they would be set upon as good as a ground or a better/ or else they will not like.   

¶ A short information for a young gentleman that intendeth to thrive.  
IAduyse him to get a copy of this present book and to read it from the beginning to the ending/ whereby he may perceive the chapters & contents in the same/ & by reason of oft reading he may wax perfit what should be done at all seasons. For I learned two verses at grammar school/ & those be these. Gntta cavat lapidem non vi/ said sepe cadendo: sic homo fit sapiens non vi/ said sepe legendo. A drop of water pierceth a stone/ not all only by his strength/ but by his often falling. Right so a man shall be made wise/ not all only by himself/ but by his oft reading. And so may this young gentleman according to the season of the year/ read to his servants what chapter he will. And also for any other manner of perfect contained in the same/ the which is necessary for a young husband that hath not the experience of husbandry/ nor other things contained in this present book/ to take a good remembrance & credence thereunto/ for there is an old saying/ but of what authority I can not tell. Quod melior est practica rusticorum/ quam scientia philosophorum. It is better the practive or knowledge of an husband man well proved/ than the science or cunning of a philosopher not proved/ for there is nothing touching husbandry & other profits contained in this present book/ but I have had the experience thereof/ and proved the same. And over and beside all this book/ I will advise him to rise betime in the morning/ according to the verse before of. s. Sanat sanctificat et dicat surgere mane. And to go abbute his closes/ pastures/ fields/ & specially by the hedges/ and to have in his purse a pair of tables/ and when he seeth any thing that would be amended/ to write it in his tables/ as and he find any horses/ mares/ beasts/ sheep/ swine/ or geese in his pastures that be not his own. And peradventure though they be his own/ he would not have them to go there/ or to find a gap or a sherde in his hedge/ or any water standing in his pastures upon his grass whereby he may take double hurt/ both loss of his grass and rotting of his sheep and calves. And also of standing water in his corn fields at the lands ends or sides/ and how he would have his lands ploughed/ donged/ stirred/ or sown. And his corn wedded or shorn/ or his cattle shifted out of one pasture in to an other/ & to look what dyching/ quycksetting or plasshing is necessary to be had/ and to over see his shepherd/ how he handleth & ordereth his sheep/ & his servants how they plough & do their work/ or if any gate be broken down or want any staves/ & go not lightly to open and tyne/ & that it do not trail/ & that the winds blow it not open/ with many more necessary things that are to be looked upon. For a man always wandrng or going about somewhat findeth or seeth that is amiss and would be amended. And as soon as he seeth any such defaults/ than let him take out his tables and write the defaults. And when he cometh home to dinner/ supper/ or at night/ than let him call his bailie or his heed servant/ and to show him the defaults/ that they may be shortly amended And when it is amended than let him put it out of his tables. For this used I to do. x. or. xii. years/ and more/ and thus let him use daily/ and in short space he shall set moche thing in good order/ but daily it will have mending. And if he can not write? let him nycke the defaults upon a stick and to show his bailie as I said before: Also take heed both early and late: at all times what manner people resort and come to thy house/ and the cause of their coming/ & specially if they bring with them pitchers/ cans tanckardes/ bottles/ bags/ wallettes/ or bushel pokes/ for if thy servants be not true/ they may do the great hurt/ & themself little advantage/ wherefore they would be well looked upon And he that hath two true servants/ a man servant: and an other a woman servant/ he hath a great treasure/ for a true servant will do justly himself/ and if he see his fellows do amiss/ he will bid them do no more so/ for and they do/ he will show his master thereof/ and if he do not this/ he is not a true servant. etc.   

¶ A lesson made in english verses to teach a gentle man's servant to say at every time when he taketh his horse for his remembrance/ that he shall not forget his gear in his in behind him.  
PUrse/ dagger/ cloak/ night cap/ kerchef/ shoeing horn/ boget/ & shoes. Spear/ male/ hood/ halter/ saddle cloth/ spurs/ hat/ horse comb/ bow/ arrows/ sword/ buckler/ horn/ leysshe/ gloves/ thy string/ & thy bracer. Pen/ paper/ ink/ parchment/ redwaxe/ pōmes/ books/ thou remember. Penknyfe/ comb/ thymble/ needle/ thread/ point/ lest that thy gurth break. Bodkyn/ knife/ lyngell/ give thy horse meet/ see he be shoed well. Make merry/ sing and thou can/ take heed to thy gear that thou lose none.   

¶ A prologue for the wives occupation.  
NOw thou husband/ y● hast done thy dylygencen and labour that longeth to an husband to get thy living/ thy wives/ thy children & thy servants yet is there other things to be done that needs must be done/ or else y● shalt not thrive. For there is an old common saying/ that seldom doth the husband thrive without the leave of his wife. By this saying it should seem that there be other occupations & labours that be most convenient for the wives to do. And how be it that I have not the experience of all their occupations & work as I have of husbandry. Yet a little will I speak what they ought to do/ though I tell them not how they should do and exceryse their labours & occupations.   

¶ A lesson for the wife.  
BUt yet or I begin to show the wife what works she shall do: I will first teach her a lesson of Solomon/ as I did to her husband a lesson of the philosopher/ & that is that she should not be idle at no time/ for Solomon sayeth. Oc●osus gaudedit cum electis in celo: sed lugebit ineternum cum reprobis in inferno. That is to say/ that idle folk shall not toy with the chosen folks in heaven/ but they shall sorrow with the reproved & forsaken folks in hell. And saint ●herom saith. Semper boni operis aliquid facito ut te diabolus inveniat occupatum: quia sicut in aqua stante generant vermes: sic in homine ocioso generantur male cogitationes. That is to say/ always be doing of some good work/ that the devil may find the always occupied for as in a standing water are engendered worms/ right so in an idle body are engendered idle thoughts. Here mayst thou see that of idleness cometh dampnaryon/ and of good work & labour cometh salvation Now art thou at thy liberty to choose whether way thou wilt/ wherein is a great diversity. And he is an unhappy man or woman that god hath given both wit & reason & putteth him in chose/ & he to chose the worst part. Now thou wife/ I trust to show to the divers occupations/ work and labours that thou shalt not need to be idle no time of the year. etc.   

¶ what things the wife is bound of right to do.  
HIrst and pricypally the wife is bound of right to love her husband above father and mother and all other men. For our lord saith in his gospel. Relinquet patrem et matrem et adherebit uxori sue. A man should leave father and mother and draw to his wife/ and the same wise a wife do to her husband. And are made by the virtue of the sacrament of holy xeriture one flesh/ one blood/ one body/ & two souls wherefore their hearts/ their minds/ their work and occupations should be all one/ never to sever nor change during their natural lives by any man's act or deed/ as it is said in the same gospel. Quod deus coniunxit/ homo non separet. That thing that god hath joined together? no man may server nor depart. Wherefore it is convenient that they love each other as effectually as they would do their own self.   

¶ What work a wife should do in general.  
HYrst in a morning when thou art waken & purpose to rise/ lift up thy haude & bless thee/ and make a sign of the holy cross. In no●e patris et fi●i● et spunssanetis. A men. In the name of the father/ the son▪ & the holy ghost. And if thou say a Pater noster an ave and a Crede and remember thy maker/ thou shalt speed much the better. And when thou art up & ready/ than first sweep thy house/ dress up thy dysshborde/ & set all things in good order within thy house myike thy kine/ secle thy calves/ lie up thy milk/ take up thy children/ & array them/ and provide for thy husbands breakfast/ dinner/ supper/ & for thy children & servants/ & take thy part with them. And to ordain corn & malt to the mill/ to bake & brew withal when need is. And meet it to the mill & fro the mill/ & see that thou have thy measure again beside the toll▪ or eye the miller dealeth not truly with thee/ or else thy corn is not dry as it should be. Thou must make butter & these when thou mayst/ serve thy swine both morning & evening/ & give thy poleyn meet in the morning / and when time of the year cometh? thou must take heed how thy hens/ ducks/ & geese do lay/ and to gather up their eggs/ & when they wax browdy to let them there as no beasts/ swine/ nor other vermyn hurt them. And thou must know that all hole footed fowls will sit a month/ & all cloven footed fowls will sit but three weeks/ except a peyhen & such other great fowls/ as crane's/ bustardes/ and such other. And when they have brought forth their birds to see that they be well kept from the gleyd/ crows/ fully martes/ & other vermin. And in the beginning of March or a little afore/ is time for a wife to make her garden/ & to get as many good sedes & herbs as she can/ & specially such as be good for the pot & to eat/ & as oft as need shall require it must be wedded/ or else the weed will overgrow the herbs. And also in March is time to sow flax & hemp/ for I have heard old huswives' say: the better is March hurdes than Apryll flax/ the reason appeareth/ but how it should be sown/ wedded/ pulled/ repeyled/ watered/ wasshen/ dried/ beaten/ braked/ tawed/ hekled/ spon/ wounden/ wrapped/ & woven/ it needeth not for me to show/ for they be wise enough/ & thereof may they make sheets/ boordclothes/ towels/ shirts/ smocks/ & such other necessaries/ & therefore let thy distaff be always ready for a pastime/ that thou be not idle. And surely a woman can not get her living honestly with spinning on the distaff/ but it stoppeth a gap/ & must needs be had. The bowls of flax when they be rypeled of must be redyled from the weeds & made dry with the son to get out the sedes. How be it one manner of linseed called looken seed will not open by the son/ & therefore when they be dry they must be sore bruised & broken/ the wives know how/ & than wynowed & kept dry till year time come again. Thy female hemp must be pulled from the churl hemp/ for that beareth no seed/ & thou must do by it as thou didst by the flax. The churl hemp doth bear sede/ & thou must beware that birds eat it not as it groweth/ the hemp thereof/ is not so good as the female hemp/ but yet it will do▪ good service. It may fortune sometime that thou shalt have so many things to do? that thou shalt not well know where best is to begin. Than take heed which thing should be the greatest loss if it were not done/ & in what space it would be done/ & than think what is the greatest loss there begin. But I put case that the thing that is of the greatest loss will be long in doing/ that thou might do three or four other things in the mean while/ than look if all these things were set to gyger which of them were the greatest loss/ & yfall these things be of greater loss/ & may be all done in as short space as that other/ than do thy many things first. It is convenient for a husband to have sheep of his own for many causes/ & than may his wife have part of the will to make her husband & herself some clothes. And at the lest way she may have the locks of the sheep either to make clothes or blankettes & coverlets/ or both/ & if she have no will of her own/ she may take will to spin of cloth maker's/ & by that means she may have aconuenyent living/ & many times to do other work. It is a wives occupation to wynowe all manner corns/ to make malt/ to wash & wring to make hay/ to shear corn/ & in time of need to help her husband to fill the muck wain or dung cart/ drive the plough/ to load hay/ corn/ and such other Also to go or ride to the merket to sell butter/ cheese/ milk/ eggs/ chekyns/ capon's/ hens/ pigs/ gese/ and all manner of corns. And also to buy all manner of necessary things belonging to household/ & to make a true reckoning & account to her husband what she hath received & what she hath paid. And if the husband go to the merket to buy or sell (as they oft do) he than to show his wife in like manner. For if one of them should use to deceive the other? he deceiveth himself/ & he is not like to thrive/ & therefore they must be true either to other. I could peraventure show the husband of divers points that the wives deceive their husbands in/ & in like manner how husbands deceive their wives/ but and I should do so? I should show more subtle points of deceit than either of them knew of before/ and therefore me seemeth best to hold my peace/ lest I should do as the knight of the tour did/ the which had many fair daughters/ & of fatherly love that he ought to them? he made a book to a good intent/ that they might eschew & flee from vices & follow virtues. In the which book he showed that if they were wooed/ moved or stirred by any man after such a manner as he there showed that they should with stand it/ in the which book he showed so many ways how a man should attain to his purpose to bring a woman to vice/ the which ways were so natural & the ways to come to their purpose was so subtilely contrived & craftily showed/ that hard it would be for any woman to resist or deny their desire. And by the said book hath made both the men & the women to know more vices/ subtlety & craft/ than ever they should have known if the book had not been made/ the which book he named himself the knight of the tour. And thus I leave the wives to use their occupations at their own discretion.   

¶ To keep measure in spending.  
NOw thou husband & housewife that have done your diligence and cure according to the first article of the philosopher/ that is to say. Adhibe curam. And also hath well remembered the saying of wise Solomon. Quod ociosus non gaudebit cum electis in celo: fed lugebit in eternum cum reprobis in inferno. Than ye must remember/ observe/ and keep in mind the second article of the saying of the said philosopher/ that is to say. Tene mensuram. That is to say in english hold & keep measure. And according to that saying I learned two verses at grammar school/ & those be these. Qui plus expendit: quam rerum copia tendit: non admiretur: si pauꝑtate gravet. He that doth more expend: than his goods will extend? marvel it shall not be: though he be grieved with poverty. And also according to that saying speaketh saint Paul & saith. Juxta facultates faciendi sunt sumptus ne longi temporis victum breu● horas consumat. That is to say/ after thy faculty or thy haviour make thine expenses/ lest thou spend in short space that thing that thou shouldest live by long. This text toucheth every man from the highest degree to the lowest/ wherefore it is necessary to every man and woman to remember & take good heed thereunto/ for to observe/ keep/ & follow the same/ but because this text of saint Paul is in latin/ & husbands commonly can but little latin? I fear lest they can not under standit. And though it were declared once or twice to them that they would forget it. wherefore I shall show to them a text in english/ and that they may well understand/ & that is this. Eat within thy tedure.   

¶ To eat within thy tedure.  
THou husband and housewife that intendeth to follow the saying of the philosopher/ that is to say/ keep measure. Thou must spare at the brink and not at the bottom/ that is to be understand in the beginning of the year selling of thy corns/ or spending in thy house unto the time that thou have sown again thy winter corn & thy lent corn/ & than se what remaineth to serve thy house/ & of the overplus thou maysie sell & buy such other necessaries as thou must needs occupy. And if thou spend it in the beginning of the year & shall want in the hinder end/ than thou dost not eat within thy tedure/ & at the last thou shalt be punished/ as I shall prove the by ensample. Take thy horse & go tedure him upon thine own lees flit him as oft as thou wilt/ no man will say thou dost wrong/ but make thy horse to long a tedure that when thou hast tied him upon thine own lees his tedure is so long that it reacheth to the mids of an other man's lees or corn. Now hast y● given him to much liberty/ and that man that thy horse hath eaten his corn or grass/ will be grieved at thee/ & will cause the to be amerced to be in the court/ or else to make him amends or both. And if thy horse break his tedure & go at large in every maus corn & grass? than cometh the pynder & taketh him & putteth him in the pynfolde/ & there shall he stand in prison without any meet unto the time thou hast paid his rauniom to the pynder/ & also make amends to thy neighbours for destroying of their corn. Right so as long as thou etest within thy tedure/ that thou needest not to beg nor borrow of no man/ so long shalt thou increase & grow in richesse/ & every man will be content with the. And if thou make thy tedure to long/ that thine own portion will not serve thee/ but that thou shalt beg/ borrow/ or buy of other/ that will not long endure/ but thou shalt fall in to poverty. And if y● break thy tedure & run riot at large/ & know not other men's goods from thine own/ than shall the pynder that is to say/ the sheriff & the bailie arrest thee/ & put the in to the pynfolde/ that is to say/ in prison/ there to abide till the truth be known/ and it is marvel & thou scape with thy life/ & therefore eat within thy tedure.   

¶ A short lesson for the husband.  
ONe thing I will advise the remember/ & speryal lie in winter/ when thou sittest by the fire & hast souped/ to consider in thy mind whether the work that thou/ thy wife/ & thy servants shall do/ be more avaun tage to the than the fire & candle light/ meat & drink that they shall spend/ & if it be more advantage/ than sit still/ & if it be not/ than go to thy bed & sleep/ & be up betime & break thy fast before day/ that thou mayst be all the short winters day about thy business. At grammar school I learned a verse/ & that is this. Sanat sanctificat et dicat surgere mane. That is to say/ early rising maketh a man hole in body/ holer in soul/ & richer in goods. And this me seemeth should be a sufficient instruction for the husband to keep measure.   

¶ How do men of high degree keep measure.  
TO me it is doubtful/ but as me seemeth they be rather to liberal in expenses than to scarce/ & specially in three things. The first is prodigalyte in outrageous & costly array fa●re above measure the second thing is costly charge of delicious meats & drinks/ the third is outrageous play and game far a●oue all measure. And now to the first point.   

¶ Prodigalite in outrageous & costly array.  
I Have seen books of account of the yeomen of the wardrobes of noble men/ & also inventoties made after their decease of their appareyll/ & I double not but at this day it is. xx. times more in value than it was to such a man in degree as he was an. C. year a go/ & many times it is given away or it be half worn to a simple man/ the which causeth him to were the same/ & an other simple man or a little better/ seeing him to were such raiment: thinketh in his mind that he may were as good raiment as he: causeth him to by such other to his great cost & charge & above me sure/ & an ill example to all other/ & also to see men's servants so abused in their array/ their coats be so side that they be fain to tuck them up when they ride/ as women do their kyrtels when they go to the market or other places/ the which is an vnconuenyent sight. And furthermore they have such pleytes upon their breasts & ruffs upon their sleeves above their elbows/ that & their master or themself had never so great need they could not shoot one shoot to hurt their enemies till he have cast of his cote, or cut of his sleeves/ this is far above measure. This began first with honour/ worship & honesty/ & it endeth in pride/ presumption and poverty. whereof speaketh saint Austyn. Quencunque superbum esse videris/ diaboli filium esse ne dubites. That is to say/ who so ever thou seest that is proud? doubt the not, but he is the son of the devil. wherefore against pride he biddeth the remember, Qd fuisti, q ● es, et qualis post mortem eris. That is to say/ what thou were, what thou art? & what thou shalt be after thy death. And saint Bernard saith. Homo ni●hil alies quam sperma fetidun, saccus stercorum, et esca vermium. That is to say/ a man is nothing but stinking filth/ a sack of dung/ & worms meet/ the which sayings would be remembered/ & than me seemeth this is sufficient at this time, for the first point of the three.   

¶ Of delicious meats and drinks.  
THe costly charges of delicious meats & drinks that be now most commonly used over that it hath been in times past & far above measure. For I have seen books of account of household & brumentes upon the same/ & I doubt not but in delicious meats/ drinks and spices/ there is at this day four time so moch● spent as was at these days to a like man in degree & yet at the time there was as much beef & mutton spent as is now/ & as many good households kept & as many yeomen waiters therein as benow. This began with love & charity/ when a lord/ gentleman or yeoman desyredor prayed an other to come to dinner or souper/ & by cause of his coming he would have a dish or to two more than he would have had if he had been away. Than of very love he remembering how lovingly he was bidden to dinner/ & how well he fared/ he thinketh of very kindness he must needs bid him to dinner again/ & so ordaineth for him as many manner of such dish meats as the other man did &. two. or. iii. more/ and thus by little & little it is comen far above measure. And begun of love & charity/ and endeth in pride & gluttony/ whereof saint Jerome saith. Qui post carnem ambulant in ventrem et libidinem ꝓni sunt quasi irrationabilia iumente reputantur. That is to say/ they that walk & be ready to fulfil the lust of the flesh & the belly/ are taken as unreasonable feestes/ & saint Gregory saith. Dnante vicio gule oens virtutes ꝓ luxuriam et vanam gloriam obruuntur. That is to say/ where the vice of gluttony hath dnacyon all virtues by luxury & vainglory as cast under/ the which sayings would in likewise be remembered/ & this me seemeth snfficient for the second point of the three.   

¶ Of outrageous play and game.  
IT is convenient for every man of what degree that he be of to have play & game according to his degree. For Cathon saith. Interpone tuis iterdun gaudia curis. Among thy charges or business thou must have sometime joy and mirth/ but now a days it is done far above measure. For now a poor man in regard will play as great game at all manner games as gentlemen were wont to do/ or greater/ & gentlemen as lords/ & lords as princes/ & oft times the great estates will call gentlemen or yeomen to play with them at as great game as they do/ & they call it a disport/ the which me seemeth a very true name to it/ for it displeaseth some of them or they depart/ & specially god for myspending o● his goods & tyme. But and they played small game that the poor man that playth might bear it though he lost & bate not his countenance/ than might it be called a good game/ a good play/ a good sport and a pastime. But when one shall lose upon a day or upon a night as much money as would find him & all his house meet & drink a month or a quarter of a year or more/ that may be well called a disport or a displeasure/ & oft times by the means thereof it causeth them to sell their lands/ disheryt the heirs/ & may fortune to fall to theft/ robbery/ or such other/ to the great hurt of themself & of their children/ & to the displeasure of god/ & they so doing/ little do they ponder or regard the saying of saint Paul. Juxta facultates faciendi sunt sumptus ne longi temporis victum brevis horas consumat. This play began with love & charity/ & oft times it endeth with covetous/ wrath/ & envy. And this me thinketh should be a sufficient instruction for keeping of measure.   

¶ A prologue of the third saying of the philosopher.  
NOw thou husband & housewife that have done your diligence & cure about your husbandry & huswyfry according to the first saying of the philosopher. A dhibe curam. And also hath well remembered & full filled the second saying of the said philosopher. Tene mensuram. Now I doubt not ye be rich according to the third saying of the philosopher. Eteris dives. Now I have showed the the saying of the philosopher whereby thou hast gotten moche worldly possession/ me seemeth it were necessary to show you how ye may get heavenly possessions/ according to the saying of our lord in his gospel. Quid ꝓdest homini si universum mundum lucretur/ eaten verro sue detrimentum paciat/ what profy tethit a man though he win all the world to the hindrance & losing of his soul. Howbeit/ it should seem unconue nyent for a temporal man to take upon him to show or teach any such spiritual matters. Howbeit there is a great diversity between predication & doctrine.   

¶ A diversity between predication & doctrine.  
HIS saint Jerom saith there is great difference or diversity between preaching and doctrine. A preaching or a sermon is where a convocation or a gathering of people on holy days or other days in churches or other places/ & times set & ordained for the same. And it belongeth to them that be ordained therun to & have jurisdiction & authority & to non other. But every man may inform & teach his brother or any other at every time & place behovable/ if it seem expedient to him? for that is an alms deed/ to the which every man is holden & bound to do according to the saying of saint Peter. Unusquisque sicut accipit gratiam in alterutru illam administrare debet. That is to say/ as every man hath taken or received grace he ought to minister & show it forth to other. For as Crysostome saith great merit is to him/ and a great reward he shall have in time to come/ the which writeth or cavieth to be written holy doctrine for that intent that he may see in it how he may live holily and that other may have it. That they may be edified or sanctified by the same/ for he saith surely/ know thou that how many souls be saved by thee/ so many rewards thou shalt have for either. For saint Gregory saith. Nullum sacrificium ita placet deo ficut zelus animarum. There is no sacrifice that pleaseth god so much as the love of souls. And also he saith. Ille apud deum maior est in amore: qui ad eius amorem plurimos trahit. He is greatest in favour with god? that draweth most men to the love of god. wherefore me seemeth it is convenient to inform and show them how they may get heavenly possessions: as well as I have showed them to get worldly possessions. Than to my purpose & to the point where I left/ now thou art rich.   

¶ what is riches.  
IT is to be understand what is riches/ and as me seemeth riches is that thing that is of goodness/ and can not be taken away fro the owner/ neither in his temporal life: nor in the life everlasting. Than these worldly possessions that I have spoken   

god hath set it on a price and granted it to every man and given to them days of payment/ the price is all one/ and that is keep his commandments during their lives/ the good men keep his commandments/ & fulfil their promise/ & have heaven for the same at their decese. The ill men break promise/ and keep not his commaudementes/ wherefore at their decease they be put in prison/ that is to say/ in purgatory/ there to abide the mercy of god/ or in hell/ there to abide his rightwiseness. And so the ill men buy hell dearer than the good men buy heaven/ & therefore it is better to forego a little pleasure or suffer a little pain in this world: than to suffer a much greater & a longer pain in another world. Now sith hell is dearer than heaven/ I advise the specially to buy heaven/ wherein is everlasting joy without end.   

¶ what joys or pleasures are in heaven.  
Saint Austyn saith. Ibi erunt quecunque ab homi nibus des●derāt/ vita et salus copia glie/ honour/ pax/ et oia bona. That is to say/ there shall be every thing that any man desireth/ there is life/ health/ plenty of joy/ honour/ peace/ & all manner of goodness. what would a man have more. And saint Paul saith. Oculus non vidit/ nec auris audivit/ nec in cor hois ascendit que pmperavit deus diligentibus se. That is to say/ the eye hath not seen/ nor the eats hath herd/ nor the heart of a man hath thought of so goodly things/ that god hath ordained for them that love him. O what a noble act that were for an husband or housewife to purchase such a royal place in heaven/ to the which is no comparison. Than it is to be known what thing pleaseth god most/ that we might do it.   

¶ what thing pleaseth god most.  
BY the text of saint Paul before said/ love pleaseth god above all thing/ & that may be well proved by the saying of our lord himself/ where he saith. Da mihi cor tuum & sufficit mihi. give me thy heart and that is sufficient for me/ for he that hath a man's heart hath all his other goods/ what is this man's heart/ it is nothing else but very true love. For there can be no true love but it cometh merrily & immediately from the heart/ & if thou love god entirely with thy heart/ than wilt y● do his commandments Than it would be understand & known by his commandments that a man may observe and keep them.   

¶ what be gods commáundementes.  
¶ There be in all. x. commandments the which were to long to declare/ but they be all concluded & comprehended in two/ that is to say. Diliges dn̄m deum tuum super oina: et proximum tuum sicut re ipsum. love thy lord god above all thing/ and thy neighbours as thyself These be light commandments/ & nature bindeth a man to fulfil/ observe & keep them/ or else he is not a natural man/ remembering what god hath done for the. first he hath made the to the similitude and likeness of his own image/ and hath given to the in this world divers possessions/ but specially he hath redeemed thy soul upon the cross/ and suffered great pain and passion & bodily death for thy sake. what love/ what kindness was this in him to do for thee/ what could thou desire more of him to do for the And he desireth nothing of the again but love for love▪ what can he desire less.   

¶ How a man should love god and please him.  
SUrely a man may love god & please him very many ways/ but first & principally he that will love god & please him/ he must do as it is said in Sym●alo Athanas●●. Quicunque vult saluus esse/ ant o●aopus est ut teneat catholicam fidem/ who so ever will be saved/ above all thing he must needs be steadfast in the faith of holy church. And according to that saith ●●nt Paul. Sine fide ipossibile est placere deo. without faith it is impossible to please god. And Seneca saith. Nihil retinet qui fidem perdidit. There abideth no goodness in him that hath lost his faith. And so thou mayst well perceive that thou can not love nor please god without perfit faith. And furthermore thou mayst not presume to study nor to argue thy faith by reason For saint Gregory saith. Fides non habet meritum/ ubi humana ratio prebet experimentum. Faith hath no merit/ where as man's reason proveth the same. This faith is a principal sign that thou lovest god Also thy good deeds and thy work is a good sign that thou lovest god. For saint Jerome saith. Unusquisque●●ius oquea facit/ eius filius appellatur. whose wa●●●● every man doth/ his son or servant he is called. And saint Bernard saith. Efficacior est vox oꝑis quam vox sermonis. The deeds and the work of man is more evident proof than his words. The fulfilling of the. seven. work of mercy is an other special sign that thou lovest god/ and many more there be/ which were to long to rehearse them all.   

¶ How a man should love his neighbour.  
THou must love thy neighbour as thyself/ wherein thou shalt please god specially/ for and thou love thy neighbour as thyself/ it followeth by reason that thou shalt do nothing to him but such as thou wouldest should be done to the. And that is to presume that thou wouldest not have any hurt of thy body nor of thy goods done unto y●/ & likewise thou shouldest do unto him. And also if thou would have any goodness done unto y●: other in thy body or in thy movable goods/ likewise shouldest thou do unto thy neighbour▪ if it lie in thy power/ according to the saying of saint Gregory. Nec deus sine ꝓimo/ nec ꝓximus vere diligitur sine deo. Thou can not love god without thou love thy neighbour/ nor thou can not love thy neighbour without thou love god▪ wherefore thou must first love god principally/ and thy neighbour secondarily.   

¶ Of prayer that pleaseth god very moche.  
PRayer is honour and laud to god/ & a special thing that pleaseth him moche/ & is a great sign that thou lovest god/ and that thou art perfit and steadfast in the faith of holy church/ & that it is so/ it may be well considered by our forefaders that hath for the love & honour of god made churches/ abbeys/ frere houses/ & daily ordain & make chantries and hospitals/ & in them have ordained & put parson's/ vycars/ men & women of divers re●ygyons & priests to sing and pray for them & all christian souls. And though a man have ordained & made such houses of religion or chauntryes'/ yet it is not enough for him but he must daily at some convenient times exercise & use prayer himself/ as he is bound to do. For saint Ambrose saith. Relicto hoc ad quod teneris ingratum est spiritui sancto nunquid aliud oꝑaris. If thou leave the thing undone that thou art bound to do/ it is not acceptable to god/ what so ever thou dost else. Than it is necessary that thou do pray/ and a poor man doing his labour truly in the day and thinketh well/ than he prayeth well/ but on the holy day he is bounide to come to the church and here his divine service.   

¶ what thing letteth prayer.  
THere be two impediments that letteth & hinder prayer that it may not be hard. And of the first impediment speaketh Y say the prophet. Quia manus ve●●r● plene s●t sanguine. i. ptcon ideo non exaudiet vos dn̄s. Because your hands be full of blood/ that is to say/ full of sin/ therefore our lord doth not graciously here you. And also proverb. iii. Long est dn̄s ab ●●iis et or̄ones justorum exaudiet. Our lord is fer●● fro wicked men/ & the prayers of rightwise men he graciously heareth. And saint bernard saith. Quia preceptis dei avertitur qd in orone postulat non meretur. He that doth not god▪ commandments he deserveth not to have his prayer. The second impediment saith Anastasius. Si non dimittis iniuriam que tibi facta est non o●onē pro te facis/ sed maledictionem super te ●ducis. If thou forgive not the wrong done unto thee/ thou dost n●t pray for thyself/ but thou endures god's curse to fall upon y●. And ●sodorus saith. Sicut nullum in vulnere ꝓficit medicamentum si ad hur ferrum in eo sit ita nichil ꝓficiat o●o illius cuius ad huc dolor in ment vel odium manet in p●tōre. Like as a plaster or me dycyne can not he'll a wound if there be any iron sty king in the same/ right so the prayer of a man profiteth him not as long as there is sorrow in his mind or hate abiding in his breast. For saint Austyn saith. Si desit charitas frustra habentur cetera. If cha●●●● want? all other things be void. wherefore y● must ●● that thou stand in the state of grace & not infect with deadly sin/ and than pray if thou wilt be hard.   

¶ How a man should pray.  
IT is to be understand that there be divers manner of prayenges. Quedam publica/ et quedam privata. That is to say/ some openly/ & some pry●atly. Prayer openly must needs be done in the church by the mynystratours of the same before the people. For it is done for all the commonalty/ and therefore the people in that aught to confirm themself to the said mynystratours/ and there to be present to pray unto god after a due manner. Oratio privata. The prayer privately done/ aught to be done in secret places for two causes. ¶ For prayer elevateth and lifteth up a man's mind to god/ and the mind of man is sooner and better lift up when he is in a privy place and separate from multitude of people. another cause is to avoid vainglory that might lightly ensue or rise thereupon when it is done openly/ and thereof speaketh our saviour where he sayeth. Cum oratis non eritis sicut ipocrite qui amant in synagogis/ et in angulis platearum stantes orare. That is to say/ when ye pray: be not you as the hypocrites? the which love to stand in their synagogues and corners of high ways to pray. ¶ Also some folks pray with the lips or mouth/ and not with the heart/ of whom speaketh our lord by his prophet. Hi● labies me honorant/ cor autem eorum long est a me. They do honour me with their mouth? and their hearts be far from me. And saint Gregory sanyth. Quid prodest strepitus labiorum/ ubi mutum est cor. what perfecteth the labour of thy mouth where the heart is dumb. And Isodore saith. Long quip a deo est animus/ q in oratione cogitacionibus seculi fuerit occupatus. His soul is far from god that in his prayer his mind is occupied in work of the world. There be other that pray both with the mouth & heart/ of whom speaketh saint Johan. x. Ueri adoratores/ adorabunt patrem in spu et veritate The true prayers will worship the father of heaven in spirit and with troth. Isodorus saith. Tunc veraciter oramus/ quando aliunde non cogitamus. Than we pray truly/ when we think on nothing else. Richardus de Hampole.Ille devote orat qui non habet cor vacabundum in terrenis occupationibus/ sed sublatum ad deum in celestibus. He prayeth devoutly that hath not his heart wavering in worldly occupations/ but always sublevate & lift up to god in heaven. There be other that pray with the heart. vn̄. Math. vi. Tu autem cum oraveris intra cubiculum tuum. i. in loco secreto et clauso hostio/ ora patrem tuum. when thou shalt pray/ enter into thy chamber or oratory & steke the door and pray to the father of heaven. Isodorus. Ardius oratio est non labiorum sed cordium/ potius enim orandum est cordequam ore. The hotter prayer is with the heart than with the lips/ rather pray with thy heart than with thy mouth. Regum primo. Anna loquebatur in cord. Anne spoke with the heart.   

¶ A mean to put away idle thoughts in praying.  
ANd to avoid wavering minds/ in worldly occupations when thou shalt pray/ I shall show unto you the best experience that ever I could find for the same/ the which have been much troubled therewith/ and that is this. He that can read & understand latin/ let him take his book in his hand and look steadfastly upon the same thing that he readeth & seeth/ that is no trouble to him/ & remember the english of the same/ wherein he shall find great sweetness/ & shall cause his mind to follow the same/ and to leave other worldly thoughts. And he that can not read nor understand his Pater noster/ ave/ nor crede: he must remember the passion of Chryst/ what pain he suffered for him and all mankind/ for redeeming of their souls. And also the miracles and wonders that god hath done/ & first what wonders were done the night of his nativity & birth. And how he turned water in to wine/ & made the blind to see/ the dumb to speak/ the deaf to here/ the same to go/ the sick to be hole. And how he fed. v. M. with two fishes and five barley loves/ whereof was left. xii. maundes or baskets of fragments. And how he raised Lazare from death to life/ with many more miracles that be innumerable to be rehearsed. And also to remember the special points of his passion how he was sold and betrayed of Judas/ & taken by the jews & brought before pilate/ than to king Herode/ and to bishop Cayphas/ & than to pilate again that judged him to death/ and how he was bound to a pillar & scourged him and bobbed him/ mocked him/ spit in his face/ crowned him with thorns/ and caused him to bear the cross to the mount of Calvary/ whereupon he was nailed both hands and feet/ and wounded to the heart with a sharp spear/ and so suffered death. And how he set out the souls of our forefaders forth of hell. How he rose from death to life/ and how oft he appeared to his disciples & other more. And what miracles he wrought afterward/ and specially what power he gave to his disciples that were no clerks to teach & preach his faith & work many miracles/ and specially when they preached before men of divers nations & languages/ & every man understood them in their own language/ the which is a sign that god would have every man saved/ & to know his laws the which was a miracle able to convert all the infidels/ heretics/ and lollers in the world.   

¶ A mean to avoid temptation.  
IT is oft times seen/ that the holier that a man is/ the more he is tempted/ & he that so is/ may thank good thereof/ for god of his goodness and grace hath not given to the devil authority nor power/ to attempt any man ferther & above that/ that he that is so tempted may withstand. For saint Gregory saith. Non est timendum hostis/ qui non potest vincere nisi volentem. An enemy is not to be dread/ the which may not be overcome/ but if a man by willing. And it is to presume/ that he that is so tempted standeth in the state of grace. For saint Ambrose saith Illos diabolus vexare necligit quos iure hereditario se possidere sentit. ¶ The devil despiseth to vex or trouble those the which he feeleth himself to have in possession by right heritance. And if thou be so tempted/ vexed/ or troubled I shall show unto the two verses/ that and thou do thereafter/ thou shalt be eased of thy temptation/ and have great thank and laud of god and reward therefore/ these be the verses. Hostis non ledit/ nisi cum temptatus obedit. Est lo si sedit/ si stat quasi musca recedit. That is to say/ the ghostly enemy hurteth not/ but when he that is tempted obeyeth to his temptation/ than this ghostly enemy playeth the lion/ if that he that is tempted sit still & obey to him. And if he that is tempted/ stand stiffly against him/ the ghostly enemy flieth away like a fly. This me seemeth may be well proved by a familiar ensample. As a lord had a castle/ and delivered it to a captain to keep/ if there come enemies to the castle/ and call to the captain and bid him deliver them this castle. The capitain cometh and openeth them the gates/ & delivereth the keys. Now is this castle soon won/ & this capitain is a false traitor to the lord. But let the captain arm himself and shut the gates/ & stand stiffly upon the walls/ & to command them to avoid at their peril/ they will not tarry to make any assault. Right so every man is capitain of his own soul/ & if thy ghostly enemy come & tempt thee/ & thou that art captain of thine own soul will open the gates & deliver him the keys & let him in/ thy soul is soon taken prisoner/ & thou a false traitor to thy soul/ & worthy to be punished in prison for ever. And if thou arm thyself & stand stiffly against him/ and will not consent to him/ he will avoid & fly away/ & thou shalt have a great reward for withstanding of the said temptation.   

¶ Alms deeds pleaseth god moche.  
Alms deeds pleaseth god very moche/ and it is a great sign that thou lovest both god & thy neighbour. And he of whom alms is asked aught to consider three things/ that is to say/ who asketh alms/ what he asketh/ & where unto he asketh Now to the first/ who asketh alms. Deus petit. God asketh. For saint Jerom saith. Quia deus adeo diligit pauperes quam quicquid fit eyes propter amorem suum● reputat sibi factum. That is to say: because that god loveth poor men so much/ what some ever thing is given unto them for the love of him? he taketh it as it were done to himself/ as it is said in his gospel. Quod uni ex minimis meis fecistis/ michi feecistis.  
That thing that ye give or do to the lest of those that be mine/ ye do it to me. Than to the second/ what asketh god. Non nostrum/ sed suum. He asketh not that thing that is ours/ but that thing that is his own As saith the prophet David. Tua sunt dn̄e oia/ et que de manu tua accepimus tibi dedimus. Good lord/ all things be thine/ and those things that we have taken of thee? of those have we given the. Than to the third. where unto god doth ask. He asketh not to give him? but all only to borrow. Non tamen ad triplos/ sꝪ imo ad centuplas. Nat all only to have thrice so moche/ but for sooth to have an hundred times so moche. As saint Austyn sayeth. Miser homo quid veneraris/ homini venerare deo et centuplun accipies/ et vitam eternam possidebis. Thou wretched man/ why dost thou worship or dread man/ worship thou god & dread him/ & thou shalt receive an hundred times so much/ and have in possession everlasting life/ the which many told passeth all other rewards. Proverbiorum. xiiii. Ueneratur dnns qui miseretur paupe ribus. He worshippeth our lord that hath mercy & pity on poor folks. And the gloze thereof saith. Centuplum accepturus. And thou shalt receive an hundred times so moche. ¶ And it is to be understand that there be three manner of alms deeds/ that is to say. Egenti largire quicquid poteris/ dimittere eye a quibus Jesus fueris. Errantem corrigere/ et in viam veritatis reducere. That is to say/ to give to the needy what thou well mayst/ to forgive them that have trespassed to thee/ and to correct them that do amiss/ and to bring them into the way of right.   

¶ The first manner of alms deeds.  
OGenti largire quidqd poteris give to the needy what thou well may/ for our lord saith in his gospel. Date elemosinam et oia munda sunt vobis: et alibi date et dabitur vobis. give alms & all worldly riches is yours/ give? and it shall be given to you. Alms deed is a holy thing/ it increaseth a man's wealth/ it maketh less a man's sins/ it lengthyns a man's life/ it maketh a man of good mind/ it delayeth ill times/ & closeth all things/ it delivereth a man fro death/ it joineth a man with angels/ and severeth him fro the devil/ & is like a wall unable to ●● fought against. And saint James saith. Sicut aqua ertinguit ignem/ ita elemonisa extinguit pecca tum. As water slaketh fire? so doth alms deed slake sin. Solomon saith. Qui dat pauperi▪ non indige bit. He that giveth unto a poor man shall never have need/ and also he saith. Qui obturat aurem suam ad clamorem pauperis/ et ipse clamabit et non exaudietur. He that stoppeth his ear at the clamour or cry of a poor man (he shall cry) and he shall not be graciously heard. There may no man excuse him from giving of alms/ though he be but poor. And let him do as the poor widow did that offered a farthing/ wherefore she had more thank and reward of god? than the rich men that offered gold. And if thou may not give a farthing? give less/ or give fair words or good iformacyon/ ensample/ & tok●● and god shall reward the both for thy deed and for thy good will. And that thou dost? do it with a good will. For saint Paul saith. Hilarem datorem diligit deus. God doth love a glad giver/ & that it be of true begotten goods. For Solomon sayeth. De tuis justus laboribus ministra pauperibus. Of thy true labours minister and give to the poor folks. For Isodorus saith. Qui injust tollit▪ just nunquam tribuit He that taketh wrongfully? can not give truly. For it is written. Ecclesiastict. xxxv. Qui de rapinis/ aut vsu●is/ aut de fu●to unmo lat: est quasi qui coram patre victimat filium. He that offereth of the gods that he getteth by extortion/ usury/ or theft/ he is like as a man slew the son in the presence of the father/ thou mayst right well know: the father would not be well content. No more would god be pleased with the gift of such begotten goods.   

¶ The second manner of alms.  
DImittere eye a quibus jesus fueris. To forgive them that have trespassed to thee/ wherein thou shalt please god moche. For it is in the gospel of saint Mark. xi. Si non dimiseritis aliis/ nec pater ves● erceles● is disdiet vobis p●tam vestra. If you forgive not: the father of Heaven will not forgive the thy sins. ¶ Also & if thou do not forgive other? thou shalt be found a liar/ as oft as thou sayest thy Pater noster. where thou sayest. Et dimit nobis debita nostra: sicut et nos dimittimus debitoribus nostris. And forgive to us our debts/ as we forgive to our debtors. By these debts may be understand the things that we ought to do to god/ and do not them. And also the trespasses and the sin that we have offend god in? that we ask mercy of. And if thou wilt not forgive thou mayst not ask mercy of right. Eadem mensura qua mensi fueritis remisietur vobis. The same measure that ye do meat other men by? the same shall be moten to you. Dimittere autem rancorem et maliciam omino necessitatis est/ dimitere vero actionem et emen dam opus est consilij. To forgive all rancour and malice that a man oweth to the in his heart/ thou art bound of necessity to forgive? but to forgive all the hole trespass: or to leave thine action or a reasonable mends. Therefore it is but a deed of mercy if thou so do/ and no sin though thou sue the law with charity. But and a man have done to the a trespass/ and that thou art glad that he hath so done/ that thou mayst have a quarrel/ a matter/ or an action against him/ and now of malice and ill will? thou wilt sue him/ rather than for the trespass/ now thou sinnest deadly/ because thou dost it rather of malice than for the trespass/ and than hast thou lost thy charity. Proverbiorum. xxxij. Qui pronus est ad misericordiam bene dicetur. He that is ready to forgive/ shall be blessed.   

¶ The third manner of alms.  
ERrantem corrigere/ et in viam veritatis reducere. To correct a misdoer/ and to bring him into the way of right. It is to be understand that there be three manner of corrections. The first correction is of an enemy/ the second is of a friend/ and the third correction is of a justice. The first saith Crisostome. Corripe non ut hostis expetens vindictan/ sed ut medicus instituens medicinam. Correct not as an enemy doing vengeauns/ but as a physician or surgeon: ministering or giving a medicine. To the second saith Solomon. Plus proficit amica correctio quam correctio turbulenta. A friendly correction profiteth more than a troublous correction/ for & if thou speak courteously to a man that hath offended/ and with sweet words of compassion/ he shall rather be converted by them/ than with high words of great punishment. And Isodorus sayeth. Qui per verba blanda castigatus non corrigetur/ acrius necesse est ut arguatur. He that will not be chastised by fair words? it is necessary that he be more hardlyer and straitlyer reproved or punished. To the third saith saint Jerome. Equum judicium est ubi non persona sed opera considerantur. There is an evil judgement/ where the person is not regarded/ but the work are considered And also it is written. Reddet vnicu●que juxta opera sua. He shall yield unto every man after his work. And saint Austyn saith. Sicut meliores sunt quos corrigit amor/ ita plures sunt quos corrigit timor. As those be better that be chastised by love? there be many more that be chastised by fear. For and they feared not the punishment of the law? there would be but a few chastised by love. And saint Gregory saith. Facientis procul dubio culpam habet qui qd potest corrigere negligit emendare/ et illicita non prohibere consensus errris● est. He that may correct and doth not/ he taketh the offence to himself of the deed/ and he that doth not forbid unlawful things? consenteth to the same.   

¶ what is the greatest offence that a man may do and offend god in.  
IN mine opinion/ it is to be in despair of the mercy of god. ¶ And therefore what so ever thou hast done or offended god/ in word/ work/ thought/ or deed/ be never i despair for it, for Isodorus saith Qui veniam de p●tō desꝑat/ plus de desperatione peccat quam de culpa cadit. He that despaireth to have forgiveness of his sins? he sinneth more in despairing than he did in the sin doing. For saint Jerom saith. Magis offendebat Judas deum in hoc qd se suspendit? quam in hoc quam eum tradidit. Judas offended god more in that ● he hanged himself? than he did when he betrayed god. For god saith in his gospel. Nolo mortem p●tōris sed magis ut convertatur et vivat. I will not the death of of a sinner? but rather that he may be converted & live. And also saith. Non veni b●care justos/ sed p●tōres ad penitentiam. I am not come to call rightwise men: but to call sinners to do penance. For thou can not so soon cry god mercy with thy heart/ but he is as ready to change his sentence & to grant the mercy & forgiveness of all thy sins. For saint Austyn saith. Sicut scintilla ignis in medio maris? sic omis impietas viri ad misericordiam dei. As a spark of fire is in comparison able to dry up all the water in the see? no more is all the wickedness of man unto the mercifulness of god. And therefore it is convenient that a man should be penitent/ contrite/ & ask god mercy & forgiveness of his sins & offences that he hath done/ whereof speaketh Crysostome. Nemo ad deum aliquando flens accessit quod non postulauerit accepit. No man hath gone any time weeping to god/ but he hath taken or had that thing that he hath asked. And saint bernard saith. Plus cruciant lacrime p●tōris diabolunquam omne genus tormentorum. The tears of a sinner turmenteth the devil more/ than all other kinds of torments. And saint Austyn saith. Acriores dolores demonibus non inferrimus quam cum p●tam nostra penitendo et confitendo plangimus. we can not do more sharper sorrows to the devil/ than when we wail or weep in confession/ & doing of penance. And that may be well proved by Mary magdalen when she kneeled down & cried god mercy/ & kissed his feet/ & washed them with the tears of her eyen/ & wiped them with the hear of her heed/ to whom our lord said/ as is in his gospel. Dimuttuntur tibi p●tam tua. Thy sins are forgiven to thee/ and also said to her. Fides te saluum fecit/ vade in pace. Thy saith hath saved thee/ go thou in peace. To the which mercy and peace I beseech almighty Jesus bring all christian souls.  
Amen.   

BE it known to all men both spiritual & temporal/ that I make protestation before god & man that I intend not to write any thing that is or may be contrary to the faith of Ehryste & all holy church. But I am ready to revoke my saying/ if any thing have passed my mouth for want of learning and to submit myself to correction/ and my book to reformation. And as touching the points of husbandry/ and of other articles contained in this present book/ I will not say that it is the best way and will serve best in all places/ but I say it is the best way that ever I could prove by experience/ the which have been an householder this. xl. years & more And have assayed many and divers ways/ and done my diligence to prove by experience which should be the best way.   

¶ The auctors.  

●O little quayre: and recomende me  
To all that this treatise: shall see/ here/ or read/  
praying them: therewith contented to be  
And to amend it: in places where as is need  
Of eloquence: they may perceive I want the seed  
And rhetoric (in me) doth not abound  
wherefore I have sown: such sedes as I found.    
¶ Thus endeth the book of Husbandry.  

imprinted at London in Southwark/ at the sign of the wodowes/ by Peter Treverys.  
¶ Finis.   


PETRUS TREVERIS