Book IV, chapters 1–4: Housekeeping and the increase of household-stuff

THE FOURTH BOOK OF Natural Magick: Which teacheth things belonging to House-keeping; how to prepare domestical necessaries with a small cost; and how to keep them when they are procured.

The PROEME.

FRom Animals and Plants, we are come to Houshold-affairs; there we provided diverstty of new fruits fit for our use: now we shall seem to have sowed nothing, and produced nothing, unless we shew how, & what we sowed and produced at great charge and pains, may be preserved against the cold, and injuries of the outward air, that they may come forth in their seasons. It were the part of a wicked and slothful man carelessly to let that dye and come to nothing, which he had provided with so much care and pains: wherefore as you were witty to produce them, you must be as diligent to preserve them. And the Husband-man that stores up fruit, shall have good provision for the Winter. For saith Marcus Varro, they serve for several meats, and no man stores them up but to produce them when he hath need of them, to defend, or use, or sell them. I shall first set down the inventions of our Ancestors, who were very diligent herein, for they found sundry things by divers means, and faithfully delivered the knowledge of them to posterity. Then I shall relate what I know to be true, intermixing some of my own inventions, and such as I think to be of greatest concernment, and that I have often tried. I shall besides add some considerations of bread, wine, and oyle, and such as are of great profit for the Husband-man to provide for his family with the lesser cost, alwayes setting down the natural causes; that they being perfectly known, a man may easily invent and make them. But to proceed to the work.

CHAP. I.

How Fruits may be long preserved upon their Trees.

WE will begin with Fruits: And whereas fruits and flowers both may be preserved either upon their own mother Tree which bear them, or else being pluckt off from it, we will first shew, how fruits may be preserved upon their own Tree, and first rehearse those things which the Ancients have set down concerning this matter, and next, what we our selves have found out by our own experience. Our Ancestors, when they would have fruit to last long upon the Tree, were wont first of all to bind them to the stock or to the boughs, lest any tempest should strike them off, or toss them up and down. Besides, they did intercept that juice from them, which should ripen them: for there are some kinds of fruits, which, as soon as ever they be ripe, will stay no longer upon the Tree, but fall down of themselves, though they are not so much as shaken: other fruits there are that will stick longer and faster to their hold. Besides, they were wont to cover them with certain cases or shells as it were; thereby guarding them from the injuries of the weather, both hot and cold, and also from the mouths of devouring birds. Wherefore to make

Pomegranates hang long upon their Trees;

Some have wreathed and platted about the fruit the smaller boughs that grow hard by, that the rain may not come forcibly upon it to break it or chop it, for if it be once bruised, or that it do but gape and have any chops in it, it will soon perish: and when they have so done, they tye them fast to the stronger boughs, that they may not be shaken; and then they bind the Tree about with a kind of broom withes, that the Daws, or Crows, or other birds may not come at the fruit to gnaw it. Some do frame earthen cases fit for the fruit, and cover the same with strawie morter, and let the fruit hang still upon the Tree in them. Others do wrap up every one of the Pomegranates in hay or holm, and then daube it thick over with morter which hath chopt straw in it, and so fasten them to the stronger boughes, that the winde may not shake them. But all these practises must be used when the weather is fair, and there is neither rain nor dew stirring, as Columella teacheth. But Beritius useth this means to make them stay long on their Tree. He takes the blossoms of the Tree when they begin to wither, and wraps in them every Pomegranate by it self, and then binds them about with bonds; thereby preventing their putrefaction, and their chawns and chops which otherwise would be in them. Others put them in earthen pots every one by it self, and cover them well, and settle them fast, that they may not be broken by knocking against the stock or arms of the Tree, not by hitting one against the other: for by this means you shall have them alwayes better grown then by any other. Varro saith, that if you take Pomegranates before they be ripe, as they stick upon their stalks, and put them into a bottomless pot, and cover them, boughs and all, in the ground, so that no winde may come at them, you shall not only finde them whole when you take them out, but they will be greater also then if they had hung still upon the Tree. Palladius shews,

Citrons may be preserved upon the Tree;

even by shutting them up in certain earthen vessels fit for such a purpose, for so you may keep them upon their Tree almost all the year long. If you would have

Grapes hang upon the Vine, fresh and good, even till the Spring of the year,

Beritius prescribes you this course. You must dig a pit in a very shadowy place neer to the Vines, about a yard deep, and fill it up with sand, and set up some props in it: then you must loosen the joints of the Vine-branches, and winde them in together with the clusters of grapes to be tied to the props, and then cover them, that no water may come at them. You must take heed also that the grapes do not touch the ground. A thing which I have oft-times put in practise, but it fell not out to my expectation: for still the grapes were half rotten, and their colour quite faded. Columella saith, There is no surer way then to prepare certain earthen vessels which may hold each of them a cluster of grapes, so that they may have scope enough; and they must have every one four handles, whereby they may be tied to the Vine, and their lids or coverings must be so framed that the middle may be the place of closing, where both sides of the cover may fall close together when the clusters are in, and so meeting may hide the grapes. But you must see that both the vessels themselves, and also their coverings be well pitched both within and without; for the pitch will do good service herein. When you have thus covered and shut up your grapes, then you must lay good store […]f morter with straw chopt in it upon the vessels. But in any case, look that the grapes be so placed in the vessels, that they touch no part thereof. Tarentinus gives this counsel. The clusters that first grow, you must pluck off, and then others will come up in their steads, if you look carefully to the Vine: now these later clusters will be very backward and long ere they be ripe: take some earthen vessels, and let them be somewhat open below, put into them your later clusters, and let the upper part of them be very close covered, and then bind your vessels fast unto the Vine, that so the wind may not shake them. Palladius saith; If you be desirous to keep grapes upon the Vine till the Spring-time, you must take this course. Neer unto a Vine that is laden with grapes, you must make a ditch about three foot deep and two foot broad in a very shadowy place; and when you have cast sand into it, stick up certain props, and winde the bunches daily towards them, and when you have wrought them to stand that way, bind them to your props without hurting the grapes, and then cover them to keep them from the rain. The Graecians likewise counsel you to shut up your grapes into certain earthen vessels which are somewhat open beneath, but very close and fast shut above, and so you may preserve them long upon the Tree. If you would preserve

Grapes upon the Vine till new come again, so that upon one and the same Vine-branch, may be seen old and new grapes both together,

you may effect it by this device, which I my self have used: for, all the former experiments are the inventions of Antiquity, and, because there is great difficulty in working them, and small profit when they are wrought, therefore I esteem them as toyes and matters of little worth. But this I have experienced my self, and preserved good grapes upon a Vine until May and June, and so have seen both new grapes, and grapes also of the former year together upon one and the same branch. When Vintage time is past, you must take the tops and pliant twigs of such Vines as grow by the house side, and winde them in at the window into the house, and binde them fast to the summers or beams with the sprigs of Broom, as with strings or thongs, that they may be surely stayed from wagging up and down: but you must let them in handsomely that the windows may be opened and shut conveniently. By this means you shall keep them safe from the injury both of the cold weather, and also of the devouting birds. When there is any frosts or winds abroad, keep the windows close shut, and open them again when the air is waxed any thing calm and warm; and so deal by them till the Spring come. And when the Vine begins to bear new buds and new leaves, then let your twigs out of prison, and bring them back again into the open air, and there let them take the comfort of the warm Sun. So shall there grow new grapes upon the same twigs where the old grapes are. I have also effected the same

By another means.

Because it was a great trouble, and a very irksome piece of work, to take that course every year, I have thought of another device whereby the same effect may be attained both more prettily and miraculously. About the time wherein they are wont to prune Vines, make choice of two special branches upon the Vine, such as are most likely to bear fruit. Cut off the tops of either of them, but leave the branches still growing upon the Vine, and leave two or three buds upon either branch. Then take a vessel made of chalk or white clay, and let there be a hole bored quite thorough the bottom of it, and so place it, that it may stand fit for the branches to be drawn thorough it, so that they may stand a little out above the brims thereof. When your branches are so seated, then fill up the vessel with earth; and, that you may work more surely and speedily too, you must set over your earthen vessel another vessel full of water, all the Summer long, which must be stopt toward the bottom with a clout somewhat loosely, that the clouts end hanging down into the earthen vessel, may bedew the earth that is in it continually by little and little; so shall your sprigs or branches bring forth both fruit and leaves, and moreover shall take root within the vessel that will shoot out into new twigs. After Vintage-time, cut off the branches from the Vine a little beneath the earthen vessel, and so carry them into a close house that is situate in a dry place where no tempests can come at it, as in Wine-cellars, or such like: Let the windows be netted over, that the birds may not come at them: In the Winter-time, if there come any fair dayes, bring them forth into the Sun: and, when the weather is extream cold, keep them in so much the closer and warmer rooms. If you preserve them thus until August, you shall have old and new grapes both together upon o[…]e branch, and each of them will be quick and well-coloured.

CHAP. II.

How Flowers may be preserved upon their own stalk.

By the like devices as those were, we may also preserve flowers upon their own stalk; yet not so easily as fruits may be preserved upon their own Trees: Neither yet can they be made to last so long as fruits, because fruits are of an harder substance, but flowers are soft and tender. First therefore we will shew

How Roses may be preserved upon their own stalks.

If you take a Reed or Cane, and cleave it when it is green as it grows by the Roses, and put in the Rose-bud as it is upon the stalk, within the Reed, and then binde some paper about the Reed somewhat loosely, that it may have as it were a breathing place; your Roses will thereby be well preserved upon their stalk, as Dydimus reporteth. Palladius saith; If you shut up your Rose-buds as they grow upon their stalk, into a growing Reed which you have cleft for that purpose, and close up the Reed again, that the cleft do not gape, you shall have fresh Roses when you will, if you open your Reed again. I have tried this device, and found it in some sort to be true, and answerable to my intendment: I took the Rose-buds before they were blown, and shut them up into a Reed (for the Roses and the Reeds must be planted neer together) and the cleft which I had made in the Reed, being but slender, I bound it up again that it might not stand gaping, (onely I left a fit passage for the Rose stalk to stand in) and so I preserved them a great while. The like device I used

To preserve Lillies upon their stalks for a long time.

I cleft the Cane betwixt the joints, and put the Lillies into it as they grow upon their stalk before they were blown, and so the joint of the Cane closing upon them beneath, and the cleft above being stopt with wax, the Lillies were thereby long preserved upon their stalk. The very same experiment I practised upon Clove-gilliflowers, and so I had them growing upon their stalk a great while: And whensoever I would use them, I brake up their cases wherein they were preserved, and so by the comfort and force of the Sun, they were blown and opened themselves.

CHAP. III.

How to make Fruit safes, or places wherein fruits may conveniently be preserved.

NOw we will shew how you may preserve fruits when they are taken off from the Trees whereon they grow. Wherein because our chiefest care and labour is, to keep them from putrefaction, therefore, that we may so do, we must first know the causes of their putrefaction. The Philosophers hold, that the temperature of the air being of it self exceeding variable by reason of the variety of celestial influences which work upon it, is also of that force, that it causeth every thing which it cometh at, even whatsoever is contained under the cope of the Moon, to hasten towards an end, and by little and little to decay continually. For the air which is apt to search every thing when it lights upon any fruit, finds in it a certain natural heat somewhat like to its own heat; and presently closes with it, and entices as it were the heat of the fruit to come into the air: and the fruit it self, having a natural coldness as well as heat, is very well content to entertain the heat of the circumstant air, which exhausteth the own heat of the fruit, and devoureth the moisture of it, and so the fruit shrinks, and withereth, and consumes away. But man is not of such a dull sense, and of such a blockish wit, but that he can tell how to prevent these inconveniences, and to devise sundry kinds of means, whereby the soundnesse of Fruits may be maintained against the harms and dangers both of cold, and of heat. And first we will speak of Fruit-safes, or artificial places, whereby the danger of heat may be avoided. Then we will shew that there is especial choice to be made of times, wherein heat shall be of small force. And then we will prescribe the manner of gathering fruits, lest happily they might be bruised with handling or falling, which if they should, it would be their bane, and the beginning of their putrefaction. And last of all, we will teach you how to lay them up in divers and sundry places, whereby you may prevent the heat and moisture of the air, from doing them any harm. First therefore, that we may prepare cold and dry places, wherein we may lay up such fruits as we would have to last long, and so to keep away the extrinsecal heat and moisture, we must understand that there are places, some general, and some particular. We will speak of some peculiar places of the world, which are excellent good to preserve fruits in. Theophrastus saith, that some fruits will last the longer, because they are laid up in some certain places. Wherefore, in a certain place of Cappadocia, which is called Petra, fruits may be preserved fourty years, and yet they are all that time fertile, and very fit to be sown: nay, saith he, if they be kept threescore years, or threescore and ten, they will still be very good for meat to be eaten, though not so good for seed to be sown. The place he reports to be a high place, and open for the winds, and to stand lower towards the North then to the other three quarters of the world. It is reported likewise, that fruits are preserved in Media, and other high Countries, longer and better then in other places. But these are the properties of some peculiar places onely. But generally for all Fruit-safes, it is the judgement and counsel of all the best and learnest Husband-men, that they must be so situate, that they may have windows towards the North, which must lye open in the Spring-time, and every fair day, that the Northern wind may blow into them. But in any case there must no windows be made towards the South, because the Southern winde will make your fruit full of wrinkles. Let us see therefore

What places are fittest to lay up Quinces in.

Marcus Varro saith, that they will be preserved well if they be laid up in some place that is cold and dry. Columella also layes them up in a cold floor or loft where there cometh no moisture. Palladius likewise would have them laid up in some cold and dry place, where there cometh no winde. So if you would

preserve Apples well,

Columella teaches you to lay them up in a very cold and a very dry loft, where neither smoak, nor any noisome savour can come at them. Palladius would have them laid up in some close and dark places, where the winde cannot come at them. And Pliny would have them laid very thin one by another, that so the air may come equally at every side of them. So

Pomegranates may be preserved,

as Columella reporteth out of Mag[…] the Carthaginian, if first you warm them in Sea-water, and then besmear them with some chalk, and when they be dry, hang them up in some cold place. And Palladius out of Columella, prescribes the very same course. In like manner you may

Preserve the fruit called Ziziphum,

if you hang them up in a dry place, as the same Author is of opinion. If you would have

Figs to last a great whole,

Columella teacheth you, that as soon as they be thoroughly dry, you must lay them up in a very dry room, and thereby you shall preserve them for a long time. So

Damosins may be long preserved,

If you lay them upon hurdles or grates in some dry place, where the Sun may come at them. Palladius shews, that

Chest-nuts may be long preserved,

if they be raked up in the earth, where they may lie dry. And I my self have seen in Barry;

Almonds preserved sound a great while,

three years or four years together, shells and all, being laid up in a dry place. If you would have

Wheat long preserved;

Varro saith, that you must lay it up in high Garners which have a thorough air on the East-side and on the North-side: But in any case there must no moist air come at them from any waterish places thereabouts. Some have their Garners under the ground, as Caves, as it is in Cappadocia and Thracia; others have their Garners in pits and ditches, as it is in the neerer part of Spain: only they lay the chaffe under it, and take special care that no moisture nor air may come at it, except it be when they take it out to use some of it: for if the air be kept from it, the worm cannot breed in it to devour it. By this means they keep their wheat good and sweet, fifty years; and they preserve their Millet above an hundred years, as Theophrastus recordeth. If you lay up your wheat with any dust in it, it will putrifie: for the extrinsecal heat of the dust, doth as it were lay siege to the natural heat of the grain, and so choaks it up, because it hath not as it were a breathing place; and by this means it is over-heated, and so putrifies. Florentinus reporteth out of Varro, that Corn may be very well preserved above ground, if it be laid up in such places, as have the Eastern light shining into them: they must also be so situate that the Northern and the Western winds may come at them moderately; but they must be safe from all Southerly winds: and you must make in them a great many of channels, whereby both the warm vapours may have issue forth, and also the cooling air may have access in. The best way whereby you may

Preserve Beans.

is, to parch them reasonably well; for so there will be less store of moisture in them, which will cause them to last the longer. Theophrastus writes, that in Apollonia and […], they preserve Beans long without any parching at all. Pliny makes mention of certain Beans that were laid up in a certain Cave in Ambracia, which lasted from the time of King Pyrrhus, until the war which P[…]pey the great wage[…] against the Pirates. The same Theophrastus writes also, that

Pease may be long preserved,

if you lay them up in high places where the wind hath his full force, as in Media and the like Countries: but the Bean will be kept there much longer, So also the

Pulse called Lupines, may be long preserved,

if you lay them up in a loft where the smoak may come at them, as Columella writeth: for if any moisture do settle upon them, presently the worm breeds in them; and if once the worm have eaten […]ut the navel as it were of the Pulse, that which is in them like a little mouth, then cannot the other part which is left, be over fit for seed. Palladius likewise saith, that this kind of Pulse will last very long, if it be laid up in dry Garners, where no moisture can come at it; especially if it may be continually perfumed as it were with smoak. But now let us shew how to do that which is the most difficult thing of all in this kind, namely,

How to preserve flesh and fish,

I have seen flesh and fish preserved from putrefaction, for a whole moneth together in very cold place, without any other art at all besides the coldness of the place. In rooms that are made under the ground, and very cold, where there cometh neither heat nor any Southerly winde, but that they are continually cold and dry, almost every thing may be preserved without putrefaction. In a certain monastery that is upon the Hill Parthenius, neer unto Naples, I saw the carcases of men kept whole and sound for many years together. The Hill is covered over with snow almost continually: and in the tops of the Mountains, where the snow lies in ditches and pits, conveyed thither of purpose to keep it, look what Pears, and Cervices, and Apples, and wilde Chest-nuts have been gathered up by chance together with the snow, and put into the same pits; after the space of a year that the snow was consumed away, we have there found the same fruits, so moist, and fresh, and goodly to the eye, as if they had been but then pluckt off from their Trees. To conclude, there is nothing better and more available for the preservation of any thing, then is the dryness and the coldness of such places as they are laid up in, to be kept.

CHAP. IV.

What special time there must be chosen for the gathering of such fruits, as you mean to lay up in store for a great while after.

THe principal matter which I would have to be observed in this case, is the choosing of your time wherein to gather all such fruits as you would lay up in store, that they might last long. For if we desire to defeat that heat and moisture which will mar our fruit, and cause it to putrifie, we cannot take any better course against them, then by making choice of such a time to gather our fruits in, as when those planets and stars, which are the principal Authors of that heat & moisture, are themselves become cold and dry, or at the least not hot and moist in any high degree. The Moon when she is in the waining, is cold and dry: If there be any fruits gathered when the Moon aboundeth with heat and moisture, the very same qualities will also the fruit abound withal, and so they will very soon be putrified, as every man of any wit will easily judge: and therefore all those that have written of Husbandry, with one consent do give it for a precept, that fruits are to be gathered in the decaying of the Moon. Moreover, the night and the day, the morning and the evening, do bestow their moisture and their dryness upon fruits, accordingly as they themselves are either moist or dry. The day, by reason of the presence of the Sun, is hot and dry. The night, by reason of the absence of the Sun, is cold and moist: The evening, by reason that it hath a little of the Sun, is partly warm; and yet withal by reason of the approaching night, is partly moist: The morning, is partly cold, by reason of the tail of the night; and partly warm, by reason of the Sun approaching: So then, let two or three hours of the day be spent, and then the time will be somewhat dry, because it hath begun to be a little acquainted with the Sun; and withal somewhat cold, because it hath not yet quite forgotten and shaked off the night; and this is in all mens judgement the best and the fittest time wherein to gather fruits. But least we should make the matter too hard and difficult, by giving such Astrological precepts, we will frame our selves to the plainest, and yet a very exact rule; namely, that the situation and aspect of the Planets is to be regarded, whereby the air becometh colder and dryer then at other times, and so consequently the fruit may last the longer. And, because we will not be too tedious, we will spare to alledge authorities and experiments which might be brought for the proof hereof, seeing all living creatures that are gendred in the full of the Moon, or somewhat before, do grow much more then they that are gendred when she is in the waining. But let us come to examples. If you would know

The time, wherein Citrons are to be gathered,

Palladius teaches you in his book of the preserving of Citrons. If you would gather Citrons to keep, saith he, you must pluck them with their boughs and leaves from the Tree in the night time, when there is no Moon-light stirring. Pontanus a Country-man of ours hath elegantly set down this matter. If you desire, saith he, to keep Citrons long without any harm or loss of their vigor, you must take this course: Pluck off the fruit together with the branches & leaves as they were upon the Tree, in the night time when the Moon shines not at all: Then hang them up upon some hook or tack in some dark and close place; see that you touch them but very softly, and let not any winde come at them; or else lay them up amongst chaffe and cry straw; So shall you keep the fruit sound and good, and the leaves also green for a great while together. There is also

An appointed time wherein Quince-pears are to be gathered.

I have found no better or surer way to preserve Quince-pears, saith Columella, then by gathering them that were very ripe and sound, and without any blemish, at such time as the air was temperate, and the Moon in the waining. Likewise the same Author prescrbing unto us

A time wherein Apples are to be gathered that they may last the longer,

biddeth us to do thus. About August, choose, saith he, the sweetest Apples, such as be not over ripe, and they will be kept long. Pliny counselleth us to gather them after the Aequinoctial in Autumne, but never before the Moon be fifteen dayes old, nor yet before one of the clock. And Palladius shews,

What time Pears are to be gathered in, that they may last long.

In a calm day, when the Moon is in the waining, and that also toward the latter end, betwixt the two and twenty and eight and twenty day of the Moon, you must take them off the Tree with your hand, at such time of the day as the Sun is in some strength of heat, that is, either betwixt seven and ten in the morning, or else betwixt two and five of the clock in the after-noon: and the Pears which you so gather, must be somewhat hard and green. Pamphilus an Husband-man prescribes

A certain time wherein to gather Cherries, that they may last long,

Cherries are a kinde of fruit that will soon wither; and yet if you gather them before the rising of the Sun, and so lay them up, they will be fresh and good a great while. Palladius prescribes

A certain time wherein to gather Medlars, that they may last long.

They are to be gathered, saith he, in a fair day about Noon-tide; and they must not be thorough ripe. Columella saith, that

The time wherein you gather Pomegranates to be laid up and preserved,

must be a fair day when the air is temperate. Pliny would have you to let them be well dryed in the Sun, that there be none of the nights dew left upon them. Didymus chooseth

A certain time wherein Grapes are to be gathered, that they may last long.

If you would lay up Grapes that they may last all the Winter long, you must, saith he, gather them after the full of the Moon, when the air is clear and calm, about four of the clock after-noon, when all the dew is quite dryed off from them: you must gather them when they be at the best, even in their full strength, so that they be neither raw, nor yet past their ripest strength. Authors likewise do prescribe

A certain time wherein Corn is to be gathered and laid up.

When you have reaped your Wheat or Barley, you must let it lye abroad in the field one or two dayes, or at the least one wh[…]le night, and carry it away before the rising of the Sun, that so it may be throughly cold when it is laid into the bar[…] for it is that which will cause the Corn to last much the longer. Columella shews, and he teaches it of his own experience

What time Beans are to be gathered, and layed up to be long preserved,

You must fell your Beans, saith he, when the Moon is in the very last of her last quarter, and you must fell them before Day-light; then, when they are waxed dry upon the floor, presently you must thresh them out before the Moon is renewed; and when you have laid them on cooling, then carry them into your Garner to be laid up: for if you deal thus with them, you shall be sure to preserve them from the worms, which otherwise will breed in them. The very same experiment doth Palladius record out of the very same Author. Likewise

Garden Pease may be preserved for a whole year;

if you lay them on drying in the Sun, and when you have fetched out all their moisture, take them out of their shells, and lay them up: for by this means shall you preserve them from putrefaction.