Book of husbandry  
  

HEre beginneth a treatise of husbandry which master Groshede sometime bishop of Lyncoln made/ & translated it out of french in to english/ which teacheth all manner of men to govern their lands tenements/ and demenes ordinately as the chapters evidently is showed.  
¶ The.i. chapter telleth how ye shall spend your good and extend your lands.  
¶ The. two. chapter telleth how your land shall be measured/ and how many perches maketh an acre/ & how many acres maketh a yard of land/ and how many yerdes maketh an hide of land/ and how many hides maketh a knights fee.  
¶ The. iii. chapter telleth how many acres of land that a plough may tele in a year.  
¶ The. iiii. chapter telleth whether a plough of oxen or a plough of horse many tele more land in a year and which is more costly.  
¶ The.u. chapter telleth in what season ye shall begin to fallow all manner of lands.  
¶ The. vi. chapter telleth how ye shall lay your land at sede tyme.  
¶ The. seven. chapter telleth how your land shall be sown in all seasons.  
¶ The. viii. chapter telleth how ye shall change your seed and nourish your stubble.  
¶ The. ix. chapter telleth how ye shall nourish your dung and weed your corn and how it shall be measured out of the barn/ and how much an acre shall yield again more than your seed if ye should have winning thereby.  
¶ The.x. chapter ielleth how ye shall change all manner of cattles in season.  
¶ The. xi. chapter telleth how ye shall change your work beasts and ween your calves/ and what profit ye shall have of your kine/ and vayll to butter and cheese.  
¶ The. xii. chapter telleth how ye should nourish your swine and your pigs.  
¶ The. xiii. chapter telleth how ye shall nourish your sheep and divers medicines for them.  
¶ The. xiiii. chapter telleth what profits ye shall have of your ghees and hens.  
¶ The. xv. chapter telleth how ye shall buy and sell & prove your weights.  
¶ The. xvi. chapter telleth how ye shall take a count of your bailiff once a year.   

¶ The.i. chapter.  
THe father in his old age saith to his son/ sonelyve wisely and discreetly atter god and the world/ and think on the hard change of fortune how by little and little it attaineth to riches/ and by little & little descendeth to poverty and wretchedness. ¶ And therefore I counsel you to ordain your living after thextent of your lyuclode/ and not more than ye may dispend in a year by your livelihood. ¶ And if ye may profit & make your land better by wynnge or by store of cattles or any other profiting more than thextent of your livelihood amounteth/ as much it is in value thextent kept and dispend it not. For if your cattles die or your corn fail it may stand you in good stead. For and if ye dispend the value of your livelihood in one year and misadventure fall upon you ye have no recover by your profits. ¶ For the wise man saith. He that profited to other men oft-times/ he wasteth his own. For it is often seen that many men have both lands and tenements & can not live thereon/ by cause that they live without ordinance and purveyance made in due season. ¶ And for they have spend more than their livelihood may sustain/ and than can none other shift but fro the hand to the mouth/ and so they fall in to poverty and wretchedness. And therefore be wise in your demeaning/ desire none of your neighbours goods wrongfully and keep your own wisely/ so that by reason no man may reprove you ne your works And the good that god hath lent you dispose it well in gifts and despenses. ¶ And ye shall know four profitable things for you. The first is when ye give and to whom. The second is if ye give or make any dyspenses/ look that it be done with good will and that it shall be profitable. For if ye give it against your will ye lose as much as ye give or dispend. The third is lost that ye give to him that may both further you & hinder you. The fourth is look ye give neither to moche ne to little but after that the person be that ye give it to/ and after your matter be moche or little/ and after that ye have to do with the person. ¶ Also let your lands be extended by wise men sworn and see what every perçell there of is worth by the year more than thextent as well in manners as gardyns and closes/ and after ward look how many acts be in your closes/ & se what an acre thereof is worth by year. ¶ And see how many acres of arable land ye have/ and what an acre is worth by year/ & of all other lands meadows and pasture in like wise/ and thus may ye know what ye may dispend in a year without waste or destruction & of free tenements according how much every man holdeth of you & by what service. Also what mills & fysshynges be worth & ye have any within your lordship yearly over thextent/ & of all manner of cottages rents service & customs in like wise. ¶ Or any other thing whereby any profit to you yearly may arise/ & look how moche shall competently sow an acre of land of each manner of grains/ & look how moche store ye may keep upon every of your manners/ this known than see thextent of your livelihood. And ye shall know how moche your bailiff shall answer you yearly by the approvementes over extent/ & thus ye shall know what the value yearly is of your livelihood/ and there upon to rule expenses wisely/ & look ye take the reckoning of your bailiff yearly in the month of juyn how many quarters of corn is sown upon your demene lands/ & than look your extent & go in to the field therewith & take a few of every piece of land that is sown/ and peradventure ye shall find more sown than he giveth a count of which he holdeth to his own behove. Or else peradventure ye shall find more corn sown than needeth. And thus ye shall know whether your bailiff be profitable for you or not. ¶ And if ye will ye may depart your lands in three parts The first to be sown with winter corn. The second part to be sown with lenten sede/ as with oats pesyn & other such grains. And the third to be fallowed & summer laid. Also ye may depart your land in two parts. The first part to be sown with winter corn and lenten seed. The second part be fallowed and summer laid. ¶ Also a plough shall tell. viii. score or. ix. score acres of land a year than lay your extent and see how many acres of land ye have/ and command your bailiff to keep this manner guiding of tithe.   

¶ The. two. chapter.  
IT is to weet that three barley corns take out of the mids of the ear maketh an inch and. xii. inches maketh a foot. And. xvi. foot and an half maketh a perch/ and. xi. perches in length/ and. iiii. in breed maketh an acre of land/ and. iiii. maketh a yard of land/ and. v. yerdes maketh an hide of land/ and. seven. hides maketh a knights fee.   

¶ The. iii. chapter.  
SOme men say that a plough may not tele. viii. score or. ix. score acres of land a year. But I shall prove it by good reason that a plough may do it. ¶ For ye shall undnstonde that an acre of land is in msure. xl. perches in length/ and. iiii. in breed/ and the measure of a perch is. xvi. foot & an half. ¶ And so the breed of an acre of land is. lxvi. foot and so ye go with your plough. xxxiii. times up and down the land/ & see the first forowe be a foot/ & each of the other be in like quantity/ & than is an acre cred. And when the forowe is as straight as it may be/ than is it. xxxvi. times up & down the land though it be a large acre. And the plough be never so feeble at moste ye have gone but. lxxii. times up & down the land which is but. v. mile way. ¶ Now truly the horse or ox is feeble that from the morrow may not go softly. three mile from home and come again by none. ¶ And by this other reason ye understand that there be. lii. weeks in in the year/ take. viii. weeks for holy days & other lettings/ & there remaineth behind. xliiii. to work in the se. xliiii. weeks been. CC. lx. days beside sundays. ¶ Also a plough shall ere thrice in the year/ that is to say in the winter/ in lenten/ and in leek sede tyme. ¶ In winter a plough shall ere. three roads and an half a day And on each other seasons an acre on the day at the least. ¶ Now know ye whether it may be done or not/ but by cause plough men carters & other fain and work not truly ¶ It is behoveful that men find a remedy against their servants. And therefore it is necessary that the balyfor some of the lords officers be with them the first day of doing following and so wing to see if they do their works truly/ & let them answer you as much work as they died the first day. ¶ Also it is necessary that your bailiff over see your work men once in a day to wete if they do their work truly as they ought to do/ and if ye find them contrary he shall chastise them reasonable therefore/ and by discretion.   

¶ The. iiii. chapter.  
THe plough of oxen is better than the plough of horse/ but/ if it be upon stony ground the which grieveth fore the oxen in their feet. ¶ And the plough of horse is more costly than the plough of oxen & yet shall your plough of oxen do as much work in a year as your plough of horse/ though ye drive your horse faster than ye do your oxen/ yet in what ground so ever it be your plough of oxen/ if ye tele your land well & evenly/ they shall do as much work one day with another as your plough of horse/ & the ground be tough/ your oxen shall work where your horse shall shall stand still. ¶ And if ye will know how moche the one is costlyer than the other I shall teach you. It is a costume that beasts that go to the plough shall work from the feast of saint Luke unto the fest of saint Elene in may/ that is to say. xxv. weeks/ and if your horse should be kept in a good plight to work/ he must have daily the sixth part of a bushel of oats price. ob./ & in gross in summer season. xii. d. And every week that he standeth at dry meet one with an other. ob. in straw for litter. ¶ And in shoing as often as he is shod on all four feet. iiii. d. at the lest. ¶ The some of his expenses in the year is ix. s.vi.d.ob. beside hay and chafe and other things. ¶ And as for the ox ye may keep him in good plight daily to do his Journey giving him every week three oaten sheves price. i.d. by cause. x. oaten sheves yield abusshell of oats if they be made by the extent and in summer season xii. d. in gross. ¶ The some of his expenses by the year is. iii. S: i. d. beside straw and chafe. ¶ And if a horse be overset and brought down with labour it is adventure & ever he recover it. And if your ox be overset and brought down with labour/ ye shall for. xii. d. in summer season have him so pastured that he shall be strong enough to do your work/ or else he shall be so fat that ye may sell him for as much money as he cost you.   

¶ The.u. chapter.  
IN Apryll is good season to fallow land if it be well broken before the plough. For in that season is neither to weet ne to dry/ but he that hath moche to do may not abide all the good seasons of the year. Nevertheless/ when so ever ye ere if it be in good soil ere deep with a square forowe so that some of the good land may rest. And if your land lie in feeble soylery ere not deep but fallow it cleanly so that the land be neither covered ne uncovered. ¶ And at the second fallow ere not to deep but so as ye may destroy thystelles and other weeds. ¶ For if your land lie marras or watery ground/ and it be to deep at the second fallow which is to say your plough shall not come to no hard ground but go shooting all in mire. ¶ And if your plough go an inch deeper in seed time then it died all the second fallow it shall find good ground/ and else the tilth of the mire and make good earing.   

¶ The. vi. chapter.  
AT the sowing of your seed lay your land narrow together so that your seed may fall even upon the land. For if your land be wide a sunder it shall cause great hurt. For the land sown the harowe shall cast the corn in holles and veils that been between the gates of the plough so that the corn that is one the ridge shall be uncovered & cause little or nought to grow upon the land. ¶ And if ye will prove it/ when your corn is grow out of the earth/ go to the heed of your land & look toward the other end & ye shall see whether that I say sooth or nay. ¶ And if ye sow your land under the forowe/ let it be ered & laid small & near to guider/ so that the ridge of land between the forowes be narrow enough together like a crest in the mids of the land the ridge under the left side foot/ & when they dry the land again carve it with your plough so that the first erynge may be over turned/ & than shall your land be narrow enough to guider.   

¶ The. seven. chapter.  
Look that ye sow your winter corn timely so that your land sad and your corn rote/ or that great winter come/ for if a great rain fall with in. xx. days after the sowing of your corn & there upon enduring. two. or. iii. days. The frost shall make the corn to perish that is new sown by cause it is but tender and the rote thereof but newly budded or put out. ¶ All such clay lands and stony lands as ye purpose to sow with lenten sede/ sow them or May come for it causeth cley lands to wax hard/ and stony lands dry and commonly the land openeth for dryness/ & therefore it is needful to sow such manner of lands timely so that the seed that is sown thereon may have his nourishing. ¶ As for sondy lands it needeth not to sow them so timely/ for it is not good to plough such manner of lands in great moisture/ & if they be a little wete with a dew at the sowing it shall not noye it but do it much good. And if your land lie in marras or in watery ground/ make good deep furowes there so that the ridges may be delivered of the water.   

¶ The. ix. chapter.  
Look ye change your seed ever year at michaelmas for it shall be more avail to seed your lands with seed that groweth upon other men's lands than with seed that grew upon your own lands. And if ye will make a prove thereof/ ere two pieces of land in lust & like in soil/ and sow them at one's/ that one with that seed that grew upon your own land/ & that other with seed grew upon other men's lands/ & ye shall find if I say sooth or nay. Also take not the stubble of your land lest ye have need thereof for covering of your houses.   

¶ The. ix. chapter.  
MAke your dung and meddle it with earth that is fresh/ & make clean your sheepcote every. xiiii. night/ and meddle the dung that cometh thereof with fresh earth or clay or such matter as men cast out of dikes/ & strew it well with straw & chaff. And if ye have more straw than your store will spend/ strew it in your fold or sheepcote/ & let that dung as well within as without be gathered to guider & laid upon an heap And when ye shall carry it to your land take heed that your carters do truly their work/ & let them answer you duly as much work as they died you the first day when they were overseen lest they find a reasonable excuse of their letting. ¶ And when ye deliver your cart horse shone sadelles or any other stuff/ here a reckoning of the old/ or else let it be accounted on the carters wages if it be lost through their negligence. And the grease that ye deliver to your carters/ let it be meddled with tar or hard soap/ and it shall be the better for your cart/ & if the carter grease their shone theyrwith it shall burn them & rote them to dung. Also the dung that is medleo with earth put it upon sondy ground if ye have any/ for in summer the weather is hot & the sonde is hot by kind the which two hetes when they meet to guider after midsummer it causeth the corn to wax passing short that groweth on such sondy lands but it be remedied by this manner of dung as is before said. ¶ When ye dry dung in the ground to sow corn dry it not to deep/ for that wasteth your dung. ¶ Now shall I tell you what wynnynges ye shall have by your dung that is meddled with earth. Dung that is rotten by itself with without earth shall last two or three year/ and after the land be hot or cold. And dung that is meddled with earth shall last double as long/ but it shall not be so sharp ne so rank bearing/ also meddled earth lasteth longer than dung not meddled/ by cause when the dung and the earth is meddled together and spread upon the land/ and that land harowed the earth kepythe the dung that it may not waste in descending as it would do. And if it rain a little when ye lay your dung on your land it shall do it much good/ for it causeth the dung and the land Join together/ and ye put your dung upon your land at falowing time at the second fallow it shall be turned under the earth so that it be hid with earth at sowing tyme. ¶ Also let your sheep dung be put next your seed/ for that is most worthy/ and at the first feast of our lady ordain your hyrdylles after that ye have sheep & keep your fold/ for in that season they have most donge And after midsummer let your corn be wedded and not before. For if ye cut thystelles. xx. or. xv. or. viii. days before that time for every thistle shall grow four again. And let your meadows be well & clean mown by the advise of your bailiff. And see that your mower hold not his right hand afore to high behind/ him so that the grass be not cut in the mids. And this default is called forcing/ and it is a great default and a great loss of hay. And let your corn be wisely shorn and gathered to guider and laid in your barn. And let your thresshers be sworn to thresh it clean/ Never theles take heed of them that they have no pokettes nor no great purses to steel your corn in/ and se that your wyndowers have no pokettes between their legs to steel your corn. And when your corn shall be measured out of your barn purvey you a true man to oversee your baly/ for it is oft seen that offecers been of one assent to avail themself and hurt their lord. And see that your corn be measured with a true measure/ that is to say with a true bushel/ and that every bushel every bushel be stricken. And see that they have a cloth under their feet to keep the corn that falleth when it is put in the sacks. And beware of mesurynge of your bushel that is heaped for therein is great dysceit and I shall tell you how. When the bailiff hath made his account of the corn let the bushel that he received the corn with be proved with his account. For if it be a large bushel four bushels up heaped maketh. v. bushels stricken/ & but little more or little lass. Or. v. bushels up heaped maketh. vi. bushels stricken of/ and if the bushel be not so large or some what more/ but & if the bushel be never so small yet. vi. bushels up heaped maketh. seven. stryken/ and so of every bushel sometime more & sometime less And thereby some balyfs that give at their account for viii. bushels up heped but. ix bushels stricken. And whether the bushel be great or little therein is great deceit. For at the large bushel he stelyth. two. bushels/ and if the corn be great & large/ than both the great bushel and the small bushel is great deceit and falseness. ¶ And if your land yield again but three times asmuch as ye sew thereon ye shall win nothing thereby but if corn happen to be of greater price than it was when it was sown. ¶ Also ye shall understand that an acre of land shall have three erthers or men sow it & some more. And each of these erthers be worth. vi. d. the harowing. i.d. and on the said acre shall be sown. two. bushels of wheat the price. xii. d. the wedding thereof. ob. the sheting. u.d. the leading in to the barn. i.d. the straw & the chafe shall acquit the threshing. And so three times the seed. vi. bushels/ and if a quarter of wheat be sold but for. iii. s. after michaelmas than your. vi. bushels be worth. iii. s. And your cost done upon the said acre draweth unto. seven. s.i.d.ob. beside the rent of the lord.   

¶ The.x. chapter.  
IF ye have any land whereupon store of cattles may be nourished and kept/ let it be stored after that it may bear. For & if it be well stored and the store well kept shall answer you as much as thextent of your land amounteth. ¶ And look ye draw and search your cattles once in the year bytwyne Ester and whitsuntide/ and change those that be not good. ¶ Keep as well your cart horse and oxen as any other cattles & those that be not good to keep put them to grass for if ye make them fat with grass ye shall have winning thereby. ¶ Also ye shall wete that the feeble ox cost as much or more as the be'st ox. For if he be a waster ox he must be the more spared/ & by that sparing the best ox is the more grieved. ¶ And if ye buy you store of cattles/ look ye by them between Ester & whitsuntide/ for than beasts be lean & good cheap/ and change your cart horse or orens or they be sore worn/ for with a little cost ye shall have young horse as to keep still the old. ¶ And if ye buy & sell in season/ it shall avail you more than keep your old till they be worn   

¶ The. xi. chapter.  
Look that ye give your plough beasts sufficient meet to sustain their labour which not overcharged ne brought down with labour/ for it will cost you moche or they be recovered and relieved again and your work shall be greatly let thereby. ¶ Also put not your beasts in houses in rain weather nor in great heat for that engendryth a heat between the skin & the flesh & between the lyske and the thigh which turneth your cattles to great hurt/ and if your cattles have every day provender let it be high day or they have it/ and let it be delivered by your bailiff/ & let their provendre be meddled with wheten chafe or oaten/ but not with barley chaf/ for that hurteth them in the mouth and specially horse. ¶ And I will tell you why your provendre is meddled with chaff/ by cause their keepers shall not steel it a way/ & chaff causeth them to eat & to drink better than they should do. And look their stable be made clean every day once for that doth them much good/ & look ye give your oxen no great quantity of straw at ones but little & little & oft/ & they shall eat well & waste little. For when they have a great quantity before them at once they eat their fill/ & than they lie down & chew cud & blow on the meet that is left & causeth it to wax dry/ & than they will eat no more thereof. ¶ And look your oxen be duly made clean & rubbed with a wyspe of straw and that shall cause them to like themself the better. And let your kine have sufficient meet and let them have the provender that your horse and oxen leave over night. And if your male calf be seek when it is calved/ let it have the moders milk a month and at the months end take from it a pape and so at every weeks end following take a pape till he have souked/ first and last seven weeks and learn him to eat. And let a female calf have the moders milk three weeks/ and at the third weeks end take from it a pape/ and so forth weakly as ye died the male chafe and let your calves have water enough/ and let them not out of the house till they be waned and some what stiff of age/ for many calves die for default of houses of an evil that is called la pomelyer. ¶ And if any of your calves fall in sickness/ spend. i.d. by time to help it For the wise man saith/ blessed be the penny that saved the pound. ¶ If any of your beasts die in moreyne let them be fleyn and put the skins in water. viii or. ix. days/ than take it out and let the water run out and that shall make it thick & better to the sale and ye sell it let it not be dry/ but some what moist ¶ Now ye shall know the issue of your kine and winning in butter and cheese/ & how much a cow shall give weakly. ¶ Ye must put your feeble kine from your good kine in a good pastor of salt marras than. two. kine shall answer you of these between Ester & michaelmas beside every week half a gallon of butter and if it be in fresh pasture/ that is to say wood field or stubble after mowing/ than three kine shall answer you as much as the two that goth in marras and but little more. ¶ And sheep if they be pastured in salt marras/ than. xx. mother sheep shall answer as much as the two kine that be pastured in salt marras. And if they go in fresh pasture/ than. thirty. mother sheep shall answer as much as the three kine that gone in the fresh pasture. There be some balyfs and deyes that will say nay to this/ but if the milk be spylte or spend other wise. And I shall tell you of this three kine that give apyece of cheese between. Ester and Myghelniasse and every week half a galon of butter. ¶ It is a feeble cow that giveth not in. two. days as much milk as will make a cheese of an. ob. & that is in six days. i.ob. For the sunday is not reckoned. For it is for tithe and other necessaries. ¶ Ye know that between Ester and michaelmas been. xxiiii. weeks/ & for each of these weeks rekynes a. ob. the some three. s. Put as much for the second cow/ and for the third cow the some of all. ix.s. and so ye shall have a piece of cheese for that is the comen price. ¶ Also that cow is right feeble that may not give with that the third part of a pottle of butter/ and if a galon of butter/ be sold for. vi. d. then that third part of a potel is sold for. i d.   

¶ The. xii. chapter.  
LEte your swine be looked & draw once in the year at after Ester and let them be changed that be not hole. And look that ye keep no bores but if they be of good kind/ & look that ye keep your female swine well at forowing time so they be not hurt ne appared through evil keeping & after ward with good masting they will be as good for your larder as your male swine. In winter give your swine meet enough so they may be strong of theirself/ specially in Februarii March & Apryl for than they have most need/ for than your sows shall have pigs but if it be through evil keeping. And if ye will keep them well/ keep them in long at morrow/ & let them lie dry whiles the pigs suck and they shall grow the better.   

¶ The. xiii. chapter.  
Look that the shepherd be not irous with your sheep/ for that is an evil vice/ & ye shall prove it where your sheep pasture as your shepherd goth among them. For if they i'll from him/ it is a sign that he is not peaceable with them/ & look every year between Ester & whitsuntide that ye draw your sheep/ & look if they be clean/ & if they be fauty let them be cleped & marked and put fro the hole sheep in to good pasture to be made fat. And at midsummer when they be fat/ sell them for than mutton is in season/ & let the wool of those sheep be sold with the skins of them that died in the moreyne. And with that wulle and skins ye may buy as many young sheep and put them in houses between saint martyn's day and holy Road day in may. ¶ Nevertheless if the weather be dry and the fold well strawed with straw. I say not nay but they may lie in the fold/ & the sheep that lie in houses must have meet after the weather/ sometime more & sometime less. And look that their house be close that none air come to their creche and every night put new straw under them/ and see their house be made clean every. xiiii. night once and ye have moche dung and most profit of them as they lie in your fold. And if your motons lie in houses for tempest let them lie by themself/ and not with other sheep/ & let their hay be meddled with wheat straw or with oaten straw/ by cause of the tempest and evil weather that they might not feed when they were upon their pasture so that when they come in to the house/ they be so hungry that the strong sheep put the feeble sheep fro their meet. And for this cause they swallow their meet hole without chewing/ and specially the smallhaye. And when the sheep have eaten their fill they will lie down and chew cud/ and the meet that is not chewed cometh not up with the meet that is chewed/ but lieth in their body till that it be rotten by his own kind and thereof many sheep perish. And if your hay be meddled with straw/ they shall chew it the better by cause of the greatness of the straw. And if ye have default of straw or great hay/ take ling and haye meddled together for that is good meet for sheep. And if an evil fall among them/ that is called the weruis suddenly let them be sprencled with water/ & put them in house as long as from the morn unto the none/ & let one sheep vouchsafe well another for that is a good medesyne for that sickness. ¶ And so it is for an evil that is called the pocks/ & yese at morrow a dew upon the ground that is called the web of ta'en changing upon the grass between the first feast of our Lady and the feast of saint Martin. let not your sheep out of the fold till that unwholesome dew be of the ground. And let your shepherd raise your sheep upon their feet a good while or they go out of the fold/ than drive them to their pasture And for as much as they were kept in at morn by cause of the unwholesome dew let them pasture so much longer at even when the stars be on the sky for the even dew is wholesome for sheep. ¶ And if ye have pasture of mount of heath/ if it be dry in summer take them fro that pasture/ for in dry weather that standing water that standeth in such manner of pasture waxeth black yellow or green/ and these waters be not wholesome for sheep ne for none other beasts. ¶ For if your horse drink thereof he shall have the chaudys'/ & if your sheep drink thereof it abideth so long in them that it maketh the flesh to be corrupt. first it waxeth white and after yellow and than it roteth without remedy/ and for a preef hereof slay some of the sheep that go in such pasture about michaelmas and flay them and ye shall find that that I say sooth. ¶ And if ye will save your sheep in a wete summer/ take them out of a wete pasture and put them in a dry pasture. ¶ And at the feast of Simon and Jude slay threof your best wedders and two of your best ewen/ and if they be fault let them be sold/ & or ye fail of chapmen sell them to feasts/ so that ye may be sure of your money/ and gather this herbs under written in harvest/ that is to say amyroke other wise called maiden weed and dry it/ & at first coming in to the house of your sheep/ that is at Marymas let meddle this herb with their hay and put some in to the walls of the house/ for it will dry the evil humours with in their bodies/ & it is good for the liver And when their lambs be ewed let your shepherd take away the wool about their moders papes for it fasteneth about the lambs teeth & some goth in their body & causeth them to perish. And let your shepherd answer you of the wool that he gathereth so & put to your fleces when your sheep are shorn. And look that ye make tails between your shepherd & you/ & tail the weders by themself/ & the ewen by themself/ & the male hogs by themself two times in the year that is to say at the feast of saint Martin when they come in the house/ and at the feast of the holy Road or at clipping time when so ever it be. And when ye put them in the house let them be marked on the ere/ and ordain you a strong iron to mark them in the forehead/ and if any of them die in moreyne/ receive not their skins but they be marked with your mark.   

¶ The. xiiii. chapter.  
These and hens shall be at the deliverance of your bailie for let so farm a goose for. xii. d. in a year. five hens and a cock for. iii. s. in a year & there be some baylyfs and deyes that say nay to this profits. But I shall prove it by reason/ for in half a year be. xxvi. weeks/ and in these. xxvi. weeks be. ix score days/ and in each of these days ye shall have an egg of each hen/ & that is. ix. score eggs of each hen in that half year/ it is a feeble sale of eggs &. thirty. eggs be not worth a penny & if any of them sit in that half a year or some day in default of dying/ ye shall be recompensed therefore/ & of. vi. more to bear out the firm the cock/ and with the sale of the chickens that your sitting hens bring forth in that other half year. ¶ Now shall ye see whether I say sooth or nay the peacock shall answer as much the for feders as the sheep for his wool Every cow shall answer you a calf. And every mother sheep shall answer you a lamb. ¶ Every female swine shall answer you. xiii. pigs at three farowynges at two times at each tyme. iiii. & the third time five/ the. x. for tithe ¶ Every hen shall answer you of. ix. score eggs or of chickens to the value. ¶ Every goose shall answer you of. vi. ghoslynges. And if any of this cattles be barren the bailiff shall answer you of the issue that is lost through his evil keeping/ because that he died not sell them and put the silver to other profits to the value.   

¶ The. xv. chapter.  
Look ye buy and sell in season/ and look ye have a true man to here your bargain/ so that ye have record if need be & take heed of your bailiff. For it is often seen that he increaseth such things as he buyeth & selleth for his lord or master/ and therefore if the bargain be not good let him keep it to himself & answer you the value thereof both in price & in profits. And if ye buy & sell by weight/ beware of him that hold the belaunce for he may do you great dysseyte. ¶ Also ye shall wete that a penny english without tonsure ought too weigh. thirty. grains of wheat taken out of the mids of the ere/ and. xx. english pens ought to weigh an ounce/ &. xii. ounces make a. li. &. viii. li. make a gallon/ and. viii. gallons make a bushel/ and. viii. bushels make a quarter.   

The. xvi. chapter.  
Look a count be made onesin the year/ for it was first ordained to wete and to know the state and the value of your manners/ & to have knowledge of all manner issues in buying & selling & dyspenses as well in household as other things. ¶ And if ye have any rent or money look ye have it out of your officers hands once in a year. For it is oft seen that the bailiff or other of the lords officers make their merchandise with their lords money to their own avail & hurt their lord. ¶ And if there be any arerages look that ye gather them without delay. Look ye take the names of them that own the arerages/ for it is often seen that the bailiff is receiver himself/ and so he maketh other receivers under him/ and so one spareth an other/ and so that the arerages been oft forgeten And look ye visit your things wisely and often/ and ye shall see if they take harm and amend it. And look ye besyte your servants oft and that shall cause them to be ware in doing amiss.  
¶ Here endeth the book of husbandry.   

¶ Here beginneth the planting of trees and of wines.  
¶ If ye will graf a tree whose fruit have no cores take and bow in both ends courbing/ and cut both ends with a knife/ and fasten both ends in a stoke and when it groweth so with that tree cut away the greater end and suffer the small end to grow and stand still.  
¶ If ye will make your apples read/ take and grave a graft of an apple tree upon a stock of an elm or an elder and it shall bear read apples.  
¶ if ye will that a pear tree bear moche fruit or else as he was wont to do/ dystempre Scamony with well water/ and put it in a hole that is pierced unto the pith of the tree/ and stop the hole again with a pin made of the same tree/ and it shall bear moche fruit.  
¶ If ye will plant an almond or walnot tree or a cherry tree/ or a pear tree/ put the kernels of that which ye will in water three days/ and put them in the earth of gourds and cucumbers/ and ye may find the same in diverse fruits. Chery trees loveth cold earth and moist/ but cherry trees be well liking in hilly places/ the best setting of cherry trees is in the month of January/ and if a cherry tree rot/ make an hole with a persoure under the place/ that the water that causeth the rotting may descend out/ and ye may do the same with all manner of trees that rot.  
¶ If a peach tree begin to draukyn/ let him be well moisted with dung as Pallady saith/ his best dunging is with drastes of wine/ and that may keep him/ descending.  
¶ If a peach apple begin to fall/ take and cleave the rote thereof/ and in the clift drive a wedge made of a pine tree/ or else make holes with a wimble/ and make pins of a wylow and smite them in with a maylet of tree and the fruit shall abide fast enough  
¶ If worms grow upon a tree/ take ashes that is meddled with oil olive or myrrh and that shall slay them. Or else take and strike the tree with mellour made the two parts with ox piss/ and the third part of clay.  
¶ If thou will that a costard or a quince wax great take a pot and set it in the earth and bow one of the branches in to the pot/ & let it alone as long as it waxeth in the pot and it shall be a great apple.  
¶ If ye will have many roses grow in your garden take hard pepynes of the same roses and sow them in earth in February or in march/ and when they spryn dew them well with water/ and after a year ye may plant them and depart them each far enough fro other in what order ye will.  
¶ Also Greeks reform or join a barren vine cleave the stock and put in the clyfte a stone meet therefore and let it stand till it be closed in/ and put about the rote with earth that is middled with lack.  
¶ If ye will have a vine to bear on the one side white grapes/ & on the other side read grapes/ purvey you of a white vine & of a reed wine/ & set them in earth/ & when they rote/ measure of each of both a shaftement/ & of either party cut away half endlong unto the pith/ Join them to guider and bind them so that either party meet with other without dysjoining/ & at the three days end moist it burgyon and ye may do thus with peer trees and apple trees branches and in process of time ye may assay if the one vine rote may be taken away & the other shall bear both white grapes and red ¶ Greeks reform a vine & make them bear tuacled grapes they cleave the vine that is able to be set in the side the space of two finger breed/ and there the put in treacle so that it be near the rote end of that stock that is cloven/ the profit thereof is that the grape or the wine or the vinegar or else ashes or that stourges brent is good against all manner of venom/ and in like wise ye may do to other trees.  
¶ If ye will keep apples and peers long/ ye must gather them slely without brusure and the place where they should be kept must be without wind or temperate cold and put straw under them & cover them with straw. Also some men put them in a pot or a sistren/ and some wrap them in payste of clay or of mortar and in this wise ye may keep all manner of grapes and other fruits.   
¶ Here endeth the book of husbandry/ and of planting and graffing of trees and wines.