Book III, chapters 8–10: Husbandry and the production of new plants

CHAP. VIII.

How to procure ripe fruits and flowers before their ordinary season.

ARt being as it were Natures Ape, even in her imitation of Nature, effecteth greater matters then Nature doth. Hence it is that a Magician being furnished with Art, as it were another Nature, searching throughly into those works which Nature doth accomplish by many secret means and close operations, doth work upon Nature, and partly by that which he sees, and partly by that which he conjects and gathers from thence, takes his sundry advantages of Natures instruments, and thereby either hastens or hinders her work, making things ripe before or after their natural season, and so indeed makes Nature to be his instrument. He knows that fruits, and flowers, and all other growing things that the world affords, are produced by the circuit and motion of celestial bodies; and therefore when he is disposed to hinder the ripening of any thing, or else to help it forward, that it may be more rare and of better worth, he effects it by counterfeiting the times and seasons of the year, making the Winter to be as the Summer, and the Spring-time as the Winter. Amongst other means, engraffing is not a little helpful hereunto. Wherefore let us see, how we may by engraffing

Produce Grapes in the Spring-time.

If we see a Cherry-tree bring forth her fruit in the Spring-time, and we desire to have Grapes about that time, there is fit oportunity of attaining our desire, as Tarentinus writeth. If you engraffe a black Vine into the Cherry-tree, you shall have Grapes growing in the Spring-time: for the Tree will bring forth Grapes the very same season, wherein it would bring forth her own fruit. But this engraffing cannot be without boring a hole into the stock, as Didymus sheweth. You must bore the Cherry-tree stock through with a wimble, and, your Vine growing by it, you must take one of the next and goodliest branches thereof, and put it into the a[…]ger-hole; but you must not cut it off from the Vine, but place it in as it grows: for so the branch will live the better, both as being nourished by his own mother the Vine, and also as being made partaker of the juice of that Tree into which it is engraffed. This sprig within the compasse of two years, will grow and be incorporated into the Cherry-tree: about which time, after the skar is grown over again, you must cut off the branch from the Vine, and saw off the stock of the Cherry-tree wherein it is engraffed, all above the boring place, and let the Vine-branch grow up in the rest: for so shall neither the Vine be idle, but still bring forth her own fruit, and that branch also which was engraffed doth grow up together with it, being nothing hurt by that engraffing. We may also by the help of engraffing procure

A Rose to shew forth her buds before her time.

If we pluck off a Rose-bud from the mother, and engraff by such an emplastering as we spake of before, the same into the open bark of an Almond-tree, at such time, as the Almond-tree doth bud, the Rose so engraffed, will bring forth her own flowers out of the Almond bark. But because it is a very hard matter to engraffe into an Herbe, and therefore we can hardly produce flowers sooner then their time by that means, we will shew another means hereof; And namely,

How Cucumbers may hasten their fruits.

Columella found in Dolus Mendesius an Aegyptian, an easie way whereby this may be done. You must set in your Garden in some shadowy place well dunged, a rank of Fenel, and a rank of Brambles one within another; and after the aequinoctial day, cut them off a little within the ground; and having first loosed the pith of either of them with a wooden puncheon, to convey dung into them, and withal to engraffe in them Cucumber-seeds, which may grow up together with the Fenel and the Brambles: for by this means the seeds will receive nourishment from the root of the stalk into which they are engraffed, and so you shall have Cucumbers very soon. But now let us shew how we may accomplish this thing by counterfeiting as it were the seasons of the year: and first, how we may procure that

Cucumbers shall be ripe very timely.

The Quintiles say you must take panniers or earthen pots, and put into them some fine […]ed earth mixed with dung, that it may be somewhat liquid, and preventing the ordinary season, you must plant therein Cucumber-seeds about the beginning of the Spring, and when the Sun shines, or that there is any heat or rain, they bring the panniers forth into the Air, and about Sun-setting they bring them into a close house; and this they do daily, still watering them as occasion serveth. But after that the cold and the frost is ceased, and the Air is more temperate, they take their panniers and digge a place for them in some well-tilled ground, and there set them, so that the brims thereof may be even with the earth; and then look well to them, and you shall have your desire. The like may be done by Gourds. Theophrastus sheweth, that if a man sow Cucumber seeds in the Winter-time, and water them with warm water, and lay them in the Sunne, or else by the fire, and when seed-time cometh, put whole panniers of them into the ground, they will yield very timely Cucumbers, long before their ordinary season is to grow. Columella saith, that Tiberius the Emperour took great delight in the Cucumbers that were thus ripened, which he had at all times of the year; for his Gardners every day drew forth their hanging Gardens into the Sun upon wheels, and when any great cold or rain came, they straightwayes carried them in again into their close hovels made for the same purpose. Didymus sheweth

Roses may bud forth, even before Winter be past,

if they be used after the like manner; namely, if you set them in hampers or earthen vessels, and carefully look unto them, and use them as you would use Gourds and Cucumbers, to make them ripe before their ordinary season. Pliny sheweth

How to make Figs that were of last years growth, to be ripe very soon the next year after;

and this is by keeping them from the cold too, but yet the device and practice is not all one with the former. There are, saith he, in certain Countries, as in Maesia, Winter Fig-trees, (a small tree it is, and such as is more beholding to Art then to Nature) which they use on this manner. After the Autumn or Fall, they lay them in the earth, and cover them all over with muck, and the green Figs that grew upon them in the beginning of Winter are also buried upon the Tree with them. Now when the Winter is past, and the Air is somewhat calmer the year following, they dig up the Trees again with the fruit upon them; which presently do embrace the heat of a new Sun as it were, and grow up by the temperature of another year, as kindly as if they had then new sprung up: whereby it cometh to passe, that though the Country be very cold, yet there they have ripe Figs of two years growth as it were, even before other Fig-trees can so much as blossom. But because we cannot so well practise these experiments in the broad and open fields, either by hindering, or by helping the temperature of the Air, therefore we will assay to ripen fruit and flowers before their time, by laying warm cherishers, as lime, or chalk, and nitre, and warm water, to the roots of Trees and herbs. If you would have

A Cherry ripe before his time,

Pliny saith, that you must lay chalk or lime to the root of the Tree before it begin to blossom; or else you must oftentimes pour hot water upon the root; and by either of these means you may procure the ripening of Cherries before their time: howbeit afterward the Trees will be drie and wither away. If you would procure the ripening

Of a Rose before his time;

Dydimus saith you may effect it by covering the Rose-bush with earth, a foot above the root of it, and there pour in wam water upon it, whilst the slippe beginneth to shoot up, and before any blossom appeareth. Likewise if you would have

A Vine to bring forth before her time,

you must take nitre, and pown it, and mix it with water, so that it be made of the thicknesse of hony; and as soon as you have pruned the Vine, lay good store of your nitre upon the Vine-buds, and so shall your buds shoot forth within nine days after. But to procure the Grapes to be timely ripe, you must take the mother of the wine before it is become sowre, and lay the same upon the root of the plants when you set them; for at that time it is best so to use them, as Tarentinus and Florentinus both affirm. Moreover, if you would have any thing to bud forth very timely, Theophrastus saith you may procure it by setting the same

Into the Sea-onion:

for if a Fig-tree be set but neer it, it will cause the speedy ripening of Figs. And to be brief, there is nothing set in the Sea-onion, but will more easily and speedily shoot forth, by reason of the strong inward heat which that herb is endued withal. Democritus sheweth another means, whereby you may cause

The Fig-tree to bring forth hasty Figs,

namely, by applying the same with pepper, and oyle, and Pigeons dung. Florentinus would have the du[…]g and the oyle to be laid upon the Figs when they be raw and green. Palladius counselleth, that when the Figs begin to wax somewhat red, you should then besmear them with the juice of a long Onion mixed with pepper and oyle; and so the Figs will be the sooner ripened. Our practice is this; when the Figs begin to wax ripe, we take a wooden needle, and anoint it over with oyle, and so thrust it through both ends of the Figs; whereby in few dayes the fruit is ripened. Others effect this, by heaping up a great many Rams horns about the root of the Tree. Pliny shews

How to make Coleworts branch before their time;

and this is by laying good store of Sea-grasse about it, held up with little props; or else by laying upon it black nitre, as much as you can take up with three fingers, or thereabouts; for this will hasten the ripening thereof. We may also cause

Parsley to come up before his time.

Pliny saith, that if you sprinkle hot water upon it, as it begins to grow, it will shoot up very swiftly. And Palladius saith, that if you pour vineger upon it by little and little, it will grow up; or else if you cherish it with warm water as soon as ever it is sown. But the mind of man is so bold to enter into the very secret bowels of Nature, by the diligent search of experience, that it hath devised to bring forth

Parsley exceeding timely.

It grows up easily of it self; for within fifty or fourty daies it is wont to appear out of the earth, as Theophrastus and others affirm, as by their writings may be seen. Our Country-men call it Petroselinum. In the practising of this experiment, you must shew your self a painful workman; for if you fail, or commit never so small an error herein, you will misse of your purpose. You must take Parsley seeds that are not fully one year old, & in the beginning of Summer you must dip them in the vineger, suffering them to lie a while in some warm place: then wrap up the seeds in some small loose earth, which for this purpose you have before meddled with the ashes of burned bean-straw: there you must bedew them oftentimes with a little warm water, and cover them with some cloth, that the heat get not from them, so will they in short time appear out of the earth: then remove the cloth away, and water them still, and thereby the stalk will grow up in length, to the great admiration of the beholders. But in any case, you must be painful and very diligent; for I have assayed it; and by reason of some error and negligence, I obtained not my desire: howbeit, many of my friends having made diligent trial hereof, found it to be a very true experiment. Likewise may

Lentiles be hastened in their growth,

if they be smeared over with dry Ox-dung, a little before they are sown; but they had need lie in that dung four or five daies before they be cast into the ground. So

Melons may be hastened in their fruit;

for if in the Winter-time you lay a parcel of earth in mixens that are made of hot dung, and in the same earth sow Melon-seeds, the heat of the dung will cause them soon to sprout forth: you must keep them warm with some covering, from the snow, and the cold of the night; and afterward when the Air is more calm, you must plant them in some other place: for by this means we have hastened the fruit hereof. And by this same device of preventing their seed-time, we may cause

Cucumbers to hasten their fruit.

But Theophrastus setteth down another practice. Cucumber-roots, if they be carefully lookt into, will live long. Therefore if a man cut off a Cucumber close by the ground, after it hath brought forth fruit, and then cover the roots over with earth, the very same roots the year following will bring forth very timely fruit, even before others that were most seasonably sown. Theophrastus also sets down another way

Of hastening Cucumbers,

and that is by macerating the seed before it be sown; or else by supplying it with continual moisture after it is sown. So also we may procure

Pease or Vitches to be timely ripe;

If we sow them before their ordinary season in Barley time, as Florentinus sheweth. But Theophrastus saith this may be done by macerating them in the water before seed-time, but especially if you macerate them shales and all: for there is but a little of it will turn to putrefaction; and the shale feeds the kernel well at the first, howsoever afterward it turn to nothing. The same Theophrastus sheweth also

How the Rape-root may be hastened in growth.

If the Gardner, saith he, do hide the same in an heap of earth, it will cause it to bring forth very timely fruit the year following. There may other fruits also be timely ripened; as

A Quince may be hastened in ripening,

if you daily bedew them with continual moisture, as Palladius sheweth. And Democritus saith, you may have

Roses growing in the moneth of January,

if you water the slip twice a day in the Summer-time. We may likewise procure that

Gourds shall bring forth very timely,

by underpropping and holding up their young tender sprigs. In like manner we may cause

The forward Fig-tree to hasten her fruit,

by renting or scarifying the body of the Tree, that the milky juice may there swell and find issue out of it, that when the superfluous humor is gone forth, that which is left behind, may be the more easily concocted, and so the fruit will be sooner ripened. To be short, we may procure

The timely ripening of all kind of fruit.

If we sow or plant them in some place where they may lie still opposite against the Sun, or if we put them into certain vessels made for the same purpose, and still water them with warm water, and let them lie continually in the Sun. And if we would have them to hasten their fruit very speedily, we should have an Oven made under those vessels, that so by reason of a double warmth, one from above, and the other from beneath the fruit may more speedily be produced. And surely this is the only cause, why fruits and flowers are more forward and sooner ripe in the Country Puteoli, and the Island Inatime, then in all other places of Campania, because there they hasten the concoction and ripening of them, by cherishing the roots thereof with fire and heat within the earth.

CHAP. IX.

How we may have fruits and flowers at all times of the year.

BY these wayes of procuring fruit to be timely ripe, it may be effected, that we shall have fruits and flowers at all times of the year, some very forward that come before their ordinary season, and some late-ward that come after: as for their own time, then, Nature of her self affords them unto us. Aristotle in his Problems sheweth

How we may have Cucumbers all the year long,

both in season and out of season. When they are ripe, saith he, you must put them into a waterish ditch, neer the place where they grew, and cover it over: for by this means the heat of the Sun cannot come at them to dry them, and the waterishnesse of the place will keep them supple and moist, so that they will still be fresh and green. And Theophrastus after him saith the like; that Gourds and Cucumbers must be taken when they are small, and in their tender growth, and must be hidden in some ditch, where the Sun cannot come to waste and consume their moisture, nor the wind to dry them, which two things would ma[…] and hinder their growth, as we see it falleth out in Trees, that are so situate, as both the winde and the Sun have their full scope upon them. If you would have

Citron trees bear fruit all the year;

to have Citrons still growing fresh upon the Tree, you must observe that manner and custom which was first peculiar in Assyria, but is now usual in many places. When their season is to be gathered, you must cut off some of the fruit from the Tree, and prune those parts well where you have left no fruit; but you must leave some behinde, upon some other parts of the Tree: so shall you find a new supply of fresh fruit there where you cut off the former; and when these be ripe, then cut off those which you left upon the Tree before, and so fresh fruit also will come up in their stead. Pontanus hath set down the same experiment in verse; that part of the fruit is to be gathered, and the rest left hanging upon the Tree; for so it will come to passe, that the Tree will bud forth a fresh in those parts where it finds it self destitute of fruit, grieving as it were that one bough should be beautified with fruit, and the other should have none at all. We may also effect this by the help of engraffing: for if we desire

To have Apples all the year,

Dydimus in his Georgicks saith, that if we engraffe an Apple into a Citron-tree, it will bring forth for the most part continual fruit. And if we would have

Artichockes grow continually,

we may learn to do it out of Cassianus, who following the Authority of Varro, saith, that Artichocks always bring forth fruit about the same season that they are set in, and therefore it is easie to have them all the year long. The ordinary season of planting Artichocks is in November & September, and commonly they bear fruit in July and August: but they will bring forth also in March and April, if they be planted accordingly; for by that time they will have as perfect a soul, as at any time else. If you practise it three years together, to plant them in the moneths of November, December, January, February, and March, you shall have Artichockes of that kind, as will bring forth fresh fruit almost all the year long. Likewise, if you desire to have

Sperage alwayes growing fresh,

and fit to be eaten, you must take this course: as soon as you have gathered the fruit, you must dig round about the roots as they lie in their own place under the earth, and by this means they will shoot up into new stalks. In like manner, if you desire to have

Roses growing all the year long,

you must plant them in every moneth some, and by dunging them, and taking good heed unto them, you shall have fresh Roses continually. By the like practice, you may also have

Lillies all the year long;

for if you take the roots or cloves of Lillies, and set them in the ground, some fourteen, some twelve, some eight fingers deep, you shall by this means have Lillies all the year long, and so many several flowers of them as you have planted several roots. And as this may be done by Lillies, so Anatolius thinks the same practice will take like effect in all other flowers. Theophrastus saith, that we may have

Violets alwayes growing,

if we set them in well-fenced places, and such as lie open to the force of the Sun: for commonly fruits and flowers will grow there, when they will grow no where else: but they must be very carefully lookt unto, and then they will come on the better. The best way is, to set them in earthen vessels, and keep them from vehement cold and heat, bringing them forth still when the Air is calm and temperate, and applying them with moisture, and muck, and carefull dressing. So we may procure also that

The Herbe Oenanthe shall flourish all the year;

for Theophrastus writes, that if we deal thereby, as in the procuring of Violets, we shall have flowers upon it continually.

CHAP. X.

How to produce fruits that shall be later and backward.

WE have already shewed how to produce forward fruits that will be very timely ripe; now it remaineth that we set down such cunning sleights and devices, as whereby we may procure fruit to grow very later, not to be ripe before the lowest of Winter. And this we may learn to effect by contrary causes to the former; and whereas we were to heat that which we would have to be timely ripe, we must here use coolers to make things ripen slowly; and whereas before we were to engraffe later fruits into forward Trees, here we must engraffe forward fruits into later Trees. Likewise we must sow or plant late, that we may receive later fruit: for as beasts that are long ere they be perfectly bred, are long before they have their hair, and do not change their hair before the same time of the year come again, in which they were brought forth; so also in plants it cometh to passe, that if they be set late, they will grow late, and bring forth backward fruits. To begin with engraffing, we will shew how thereby

To produce later Cherries.

There is a kind of Tree that brings forth a very bitter fruit, so bitter that it is called Amarendula, that is to say, a bitterling; a branch of this Tree being engraffed into a Cherry-tree, after three or four several engraffings will bring forth at length Cherries that will be very later: and howsoever the fruit of its own kind be very bitter, yet in time it will forget the former relish, and yeeld a more pleasant taste. We may effect this also by that kinde of engraffing which we spoke of in the eighth Chapter; but that will be longer in working. Likewise we may procure that

A Pear shall grow exceeding later,

if we engraffe the same into a Willow; for we have declared before, that such an engraffing there may be; and certain it is, that thereby a very latter fruit may be produced. But we must see that the Willow grow in such a place, as where it may be nourished with continual moisture; and this engraffing must be done about the last dayes of the Moons last quarter; and it must be graffed betwixt the Tree and the bark. If any man would have

Roses grow later;

Florentinus shews how it may effected. When you have engraffed the Vine-branch into a Cherry-tree, as soon as ever the fruit cometh forth, you must set the bud of a Rose into the bark or pill thereof: for growing in another body, look what time the Tree wherein it is set, will fructifie, and at the same time will the Rose open it self, yielding a very excellent savour, and besides will be very pleasant to behold. To be short, all kinds of fruits may be made to grow later, by this kind of engraffing. Now there is another way whereby we may procure the backward growth of fruits: and this is by shaking or plucking off the buds or blossoms that grow first upon the Tree; for while new buds are growing up in the room of the first, time wears away, and yet if the Air be seasonable, these latter buds will be good fruit, and well ripened, though they be slow. Thus we may produce

Figs that are very backward,

as Columella sheweth. When the green Figs are very small, shake them off, and the Tree will bring forth others that will not be ripe before the latter end of Winter. And Pliny following his authority, saith, that Figs will grow latter, if the first Green ones be shaken off when they are about the bigness of a bean; for then others will come up in their stead, which will be long a ripening. And by this means it is, that Tarentinus shews how to produce

Latter Grapes,

We must take away the bunches that grow first, and then others will grow up in their stead: but we must have an especiall care still to look to the Vine, that other clusters may grow, and at length be ripened. By this means likewise we may cause

Roses to open or blow very latter,

If we tuck off the buds that grow first, at such time as the flower begins to appear and shew forth it self. This practise will take best effect, if it be used upon musk-roses, especially such as are wont to be fullest of leaves; for thus we have in the Country store of Roses growing all the Winter long, as they stand in earthen vessels, and are set up in Windows. So if you would have

Clove-gilliflowers blow later;

you must tuck off the first stalks and slips about that time as they are ready to bud, and set them in the heat of the Sun all the Summer long; but you must water them continually, that they lose not all their moisture: for by this practice we have procured other stalks, and other slips which have yeelded flowers all the Winter long even to the Spring, so that we have continual Winter-gilliflowers, both at home and in the Country abroad. There is also another device whereby we may cause fruit to ripen very late; not by shaking or cutting off the buds, but by planting them late, and keeping away the cold from them. As for example, If we would

Produce later Cucumbers,

because we know that this kind of fruit cannot endure any frost, or showers, or cold storms, therefore we must sow the seeds in the Summer-time; and when the Winter draws on, we must lay heaps of muck round about them, whereby no cold may come at them to destroy them, and they may be ripened through the heat and fatness thereof. But the best way to have later Cucumbers, is, as we shewed before, either to set thereof into great Fennel stalks, or else to cast the Cucumbers into a pit for a certain season. If we would have

A Rose blow in the Winter;

we must watch the time when the tops of the sets begin to shoot up, as they grow on their beds; and then take away the sets, and plant them in another place, where the root afterward wil take, & so yeeld us a winter-rose. Likewise if we desire to have

Straw berries in the Winter or Spring,

as we have in the Summer, we must take them whiles they are white, before they are grown to their reddish hiew, and put them leaves and all into reeds or canes, stopping up the mouth thereof with some fat soil, and burying them in the earth till Winter come; and then if we would have them to be red of their own natural colour, let them lie a while in the Sun, and we shall obtain our purpose. By the like device as this is, we may reserve

Lettice for a Winter sallet.

When she hath brought forth her leaves, that they grow up round together, you must bind the tops of them about with a little string, and keep them growing in an earthen vessel, in such a place as they may alwayes receive fit nourishment; and by this means you shall have them still white and tender. In like manner

Endive may be kept till Winter,

to have it still fresh for any use. Others take other courses that are less chargeable; as to cover them only with earth, or with straw and leaves. Gardeners with us cover them in their Gardens with sand or such like earth, whereby they keep them very white and tender, and yet enjoy them all the Winter long.