Of
sheep, and what time of the year the rams should be put to the
ewes:
An
husband can not well thrive by his corn, without he have other
cattle, nor by his cattle, without corn. For else he shall be
a buyer, a borrower, or a beggar. And because that sheep in
mine opinion is the most profitable cattle that any man can
have, therefore I purpose to speak first of sheep. Then first
is to be known, what time thou shalt put rams to thy ewes; and
therein I make a distinction, for every man may not put to their
rams all at one time, for if they do, there will be great hurt
and loss; for that man, that hath the best sheep pasture for
winter, and soon springing in the beginning of the year, he
may suffer his rams to go with his ewes at all times of the
year, to blissom or ride when they will: but for the common
pasture, it is time to put to his rams at the Exaltation of
the Holy Cross: for then the buck goeth to the rut, and so would
the ram. But for the common husband, that hath no pasture but
the common fields, it is time enough at the Feast of Saint Michael
the Archangel. And for the poor husband ... that dwell in hilly
and high ground, that hath no pastures, nor common fields, but
only the common heath, Simon and Jude Day is good time for them,
and this is the reason why. An ewe goeth with lamb 20 weeks,
and shall [drop] her lamb in the 21st week, and if she
have not convenient new grass to eat, she may not give her lamb
milk: and for want of milk, there be many lambs perished and
lost ...
To
make an ewe love her lambs:
If
thy ewe hath milk, and will not love her lamb, put her in a
narrow place made of boards ... and put the lamb to her, and
suckle it, and if the ewe smite the lamb with her head, bind
her head with a hay-rope, or a cord, to the side of the pen:
and if she will not stand side long all the lamb, then give
her a little hay, and tie a dog by her, that she may see him:
and this will make her to love her lamb shortly. And if thou
have a lamb dead, whereof the dam hath much milk, flay that
lamb, and tie the skin upon another lamb's back, that hath a
sorry dam, with little milk, and put the good ewe and that lamb
together in the pen, and in one hour she will love that lamb
...
To
belt sheep:
If
any sheep raye or be defiled with dung about the tail, take
a pair of shears and clip it away, and cast dry muldes thereupon:
and if it be in the heat of the summer, it would be rubbed over
with a little tar, to keep away the flies .... And a shepherd
should not go without his dog, his sheephook, a pair of shears,
and his tar box, either with him, or ready at his sheep fold,
and he must teach his dog to bark when he would have him, to
run when he would have him, and to leave running when he would
have him, or else he is not a cunning shepherd. The dog must
learn it, when he is a whelp, or else it will not be: for it
is hard to make an old dog to stoup.
To
grease sheep:
If
any sheep be scabbed, the shepherd may perceive it by the biting,
rubbing or scratching with his horn, or most commonly the wool
will rise, and be thin and bare in that place: then take him,
and shed the wool with thy fingers, there the scab is, and with
thy finger, lay a little tar thereupon, and stroke it a length
in the bottom of the wool, that it may not be seen above. And
so shed the wool by and by, and lay a little tar thereupon,
till thou pass the sore, and then it will go no further.
To
meddle tar:
Let
thy tar be meddled with oil, goose-grease, or capon's grease,
these three be the best, for these will make the tar to run
abroad: butter and swine's grease, when they be molten are good,
so they be not salt; for tar of himself is too keen, and is
a fretter, and no healer, without it be meddled with some of
these.
To
make broom salve:
A
medicine to salve poor men's sheep, that think tar too costly:
but I doubt not, but and rich men know it, they would use the
same. Take a sheet full of broome, crops, leaves, blossoms and
all, and chop them very small, and then seethe them in a pan
of 20 gallons with running water, till it begin to wax thick
like a jelly, then take two pounds of sheep suet molten, and
a pottell of old piss, and as much brine made with salt, and
put it all in the said pan, and stir it about, and then strain
it through an old cloth, and put it in what vessel ye will,
and if your sheep be new clipped, make it luke warm, and then
wash your sheep therewith .... And at all times of the year
after, ye may relent it, and need require: and make wide sheydes
in the wool of the sheep, and anoint them with it, and it shall
heal the scabs, and kill the sheep-lice, and it shall not hurt
the wool in the sale thereof ....
The
wood evil, and remedy thereof:
There
is a sickness among sheep, and is called the wood evil, and
that cometh in the spring of the year, and taketh them most
commonly in the legs, or in the neck, and maketh them to halt,
and to hold their neck awry. And the most part that have the
sickness, will die shortly in a day or two. The best remedy
is, to wash them a little, and to change their ground, and to
bring them to low ground and fresh grass. And that sickness
is most commonly on hilly ground, ley ground and ferny ground.
And some men used to let them blood under the eye in a vein
for the same cause.
To
wash sheep:
In
June is time to shear sheep, and ere they be shorn, they must
be very well washed, the which shall be to the owner great profit
in the sale of his wool, and also to the cloth-maker ... [but
beware, not to drown the sheep].
Necessary
things belonging to grafting:
It
is necessary, profitable and also a pleasure to a husband, to
have pears, wardens, and apples of diverse sorts. And also cherries,
filberts [hazelnuts], bullace, damsons [a fruit
from Damascus], plums, walnuts and such other. And therefore
it is convenient to learn how thou shalt graft. Then it is to
be known what things thou must have to graft withal. Thou must
have a grafting saw, the which should be very thin, and thick-toothed
... Thou must also have a grafting knife, an inch broad, with
a thick back, the cleave the stock withall. And also a mallet,
to drive the knife and thy wedge into the tree: and a sharp
knife, to pare the stocks head, and another sharp knife, to
cut the graft clean. And thou must also have two wedges of hard
wood ... to open the stock, when it is cloven and pared: and
also enough tough clay and moss ... to bind them with. etc.
To
rear calves:
It
is convenient for a husband to rear calves, and especially those
that come between Candlemass and May, for that season he may
spare milk beast; and by that time the calf shall be weaned,
there will be grass enough to put him into. And at winter he
will be big enough to save himself among other beasts, with
a little favour. And the dam of the calf shall bull again, and
bring another by the same time of the year, and if thou shalt
tarry until after May, the calf will be weak in winter, and
the dam would not bull again, but oft time go barre .... And
a cow shall give more milk with a little grass and straw ...
than she shall do with hay and straw ... for the hard meat drieth
up the milk. But he that hath no pasture, must do as he may;
but yet it is better to the husband to sell thos calves than
to rear them, because of the cost, and also for the profit of
the milk to his house ... If the husband fo with an ox-plough,
it is convenient that he rear two ox-calves and two cow-calves
at the least, to uphold his flock, and if he may do more, it
will be the more profit. And it is better, to wean thy calves
at the grass before. And that man, that may have a pasture for
his [cattle], and another for his calves, in water in
them both, may rear and breed good beasts with light cost. And
if thou wean thy calves with hay, it will make them have great
bellies, and the rather they will rot when they come to grass,
and in winter they would be put in a house by themselves, and
given hay on the nights, and put in a good pastuyre on the day,
and they shall be much better to handle, when they be [cattle]
or oxen.
OF
WIVES:
What
things a wife is bound of right to do:
First
and principally the wife is bound of right to love her husband,
above father and mother, and above all other men ... A man should
leave father and mother, and draw to his wife, and the same
wise a wife should do to her husband. And are made by the virtue
of holy scripture one flesh, one blood, one body and two souls.
Wherefore their hearts, their minds, their works, and occupations,
should be all one, never to sever not to change during their
natural lives, by any man's act or deed ... That thing that
god has joined together, no man may sever nor depart. Wherefore
it is convenient that they love each other as effectually as
they would do their own selves, etc.
What
works a wife should do in general:
First
in a morning when thou art waked, and purposed to rise, lift
up thy hand and bless thee, and make a sign of the Holy Cross
... And if thou say a Pater Noster, an Ave, and
a Crede, and remember thy maker, thou shalt speed much
the better. And when thou art up and ready, first sweep thy
house, dress up thy dishboard, and set all things in good order
within thy house: milk thy [cows], [suckle]
thy calves, sye up thy milk, take up thy children and array
them, and provide for thy husbands breakfast, dinner, supper
and for thy children and thy servants, and take thy part with
them. And to [send] corn and malt to the mill, to bake
and brew withall when need is. And [measure] it to the
mill, and from the mill, and see that thy have thy measure again
beside the [count], or else the miller deals not truly
with thee, or else thy corn is not dry as it should be. Thou
must make butter, and cheese when thou may, serve thy swine
both morning and evening, and give thy [poultry] meat
in the morning; and when time of year comes, thou must take
heed how thy hens, ducks and geese do lay, and to gather up
their eggs, and when they wax broody, to settle them there as
no beasts, swine, nor other vermin hurt them. And thou must
know, that all whole-footed fowls will sit a month, and all
cloven-footed fowls will sit but three weeks, except a peahen,
and great fowls, as cranes, bustards and such other. And when
they have brought forth their birds, to see that they be well
kept from the gleyd, crows, fullymartes and other vermin.
And
in the beginning of March, or a little afore, is time for a
wife to make her garden, and to get as many good seeds and herbs
as she can, and especially such as be good for the pot, and
to eat, and as often as need shall require, it must be weeded,
for else the weeds will overgrow the herbs. And also in March
is time to sow flax and hemp, for I have heard old housewives
say, that better is March hurdes [hurd = the coarse part
of flax or hemp] than April flax, the reason appears: but
how it should be sown, weeded, pulled, repeyled, watered, washed,
dried, beaten, braked, tawed, hecheled, spun, wounden, wrapped
and woven it needs not for me to show, for they be wise enough;
and thereof may they make sheets, boardcloths, towels, shirts,
smocks and such other necessaries, and therefore let thy distaff
be always ready for a pastime, that thou not be idle. And undoubted
a woman cannot get her living honestly with spinning on the
distaff, but it stops a gap, and must needs be had ... [There
follows a lengthy discourse on how to work flax.]
It
is convenient for a husband to have sheep of his own, for many
causes, and then may his wife have part of the wool, to make
her husband and herself some clothes. And at the least way,
she may have the locks of the sheep, either to make clothes
or blankets and coverlets, or both. And if she has no wool of
her own, she may take wool to spin of cloth-makers, and by that
means she might have a convenient living, and many times to
do other works.
It
is a wive's occupation, to winnow all manner of corns, to make
malt, to wash and wring, to make hay, shear corn, and in time
of need to help her husband to fill the muck-wain or dung-cart,
drive the plough, to load hay, corn, to sell butter, cheese,
milk, eggs, chickens, capons, hens, pigs, geese and all manner
of corn. And also to buy all manner of necessary things belonging
to her household, and to make a true reckoning and accompt to
her husband, what she hath paid. And if the husband go to the
market, to buy or sell, as they often do, he then to show his
wife in like manner. For if one of them should use to deceive
the other, he deceives himself, and he is not like to thrive.
And therefore they must be true either to the other ...
