John Mortimer

Beneath

The earth you take from beneath will be barren.

Bottom

Silkworms finish their bottoms in . . . fifteen days.

Brawn

The best age for the boar is from two to five years, at which time it is best to geld him, or sell him for brawn.

Broomy

If land grow mossy or broomy.

Chit

I have known barley chit in seven hours after it had been thrown forth.

Ciderkin

Ciderkin is made for common drinking, and supplies the place of small beer.

Close

Plant the spring crocuses close to a wall.

Costive

Clay in dry seasons is costive, hardening with the sun and wind.

Dam

A weight of earth that dams in the water.

Depauperate

Liming does not depauperate; the ground will last long, and bear large grain.

Draught

The Hertfordshire wheel plow . . . is of the easiest draught.

Fallow

The plowing of fallows is a benefit to land.

Fancy

London pride is a pretty fancy for borders.

Fat

An old ox fats as well, and is as good, as a young one.

Feed

Once in three years feed your mowing lands.

Felt

To know whether sheep are sound or not, see that the felt be loose.

Filler

They have six diggers to four fillers, so as to keep the fillers always at work.

Flush

It flushes violently out of the cock.

Fork

The corn beginneth to fork.

Keep

If the malt be not thoroughly dried, the ale it makes will not keep.

Knot

Cut hay when it begins to knot.

Mellow

If the Weather prove frosty to mellow it [the ground], they do not plow it again till April.

Mend

Though in some lands the grass is but short, yet it mends garden herbs and fruit.

Nip

The small shoots . . . must be nipped off.

Pale

Deer creep through when a pale tumbles down.

Paring

Pare off the surface of the earth, and with the parings raise your hills.

Patent

Madder . . . in King Charles the First's time, was made a patent commodity.

Picked

Let the stake be made picked at the top.

Pitch

The tree whereon they [the bees] pitch.

Poach

Chalky and clay lands . . . chap in summer, and poach in winter.

Root

In deep grounds the weeds root deeper.

Rowen

Turn your cows, that give milk, into your rowens till snow comes.

Run

If the richness of the ground cause turnips to run to leaves.

Sad

Chalky lands are naturally cold and sad.

Woad, or wade, is used by the dyers to lay the foundation of all sad colors.

Sadden

Marl is binding, and saddening of land is the great prejudice it doth to clay lands.

Scorch

Scatter a little mungy straw or fern amongst your seedlings, to prevent the roots from scorching.

Settlement

Fuller's earth left a thick settlement.

Shed

White oats are apt to shed most as they lie, and black as they stand.

Shoal

The depth of your pond should be six feet; and on the sides some shoals for the fish to lay their span.

Sink

Let not the fire sink or slacken.

Slip

The branches also may be slipped and planted.

Soil

Improve land by dung and other sort of soils.

Spire

It is not so apt to spire up as the other sorts, being more inclined to branch into arms.

Stalky

At the top [it] bears a great stalky head.

stare

Take off all the staring straws and jags in the hive.

Straggle

Trim off the small, superfluous branches on each side of the hedge that straggle too far out.

Surbate

Chalky land surbates and spoils oxen's feet.

Truth

Plows, to go true, depend much on the truth of the ironwork.

Vermin

Great injuries these vermin, mice and rats, do in the field.

Wash

The wash of pastures, fields, commons, and roads, where rain water hath a long time settled.