136 LATER STEWARTS AND THE REVOLUTION 



same authority, were at Crediton and Welshpool. In arable 

 farming, says Mascall, or his editor, Ruscam, the seasons for the 

 operations of agriculture, as well as the choice of implements must 

 depend on the character of the soil. Thus on the " stiffe clayes of 

 Huntingdonshire, Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire," on " mixt soils 

 that are good and fruitful, as Northamptonshire, Hartfordshire, most 

 parts of Kent, Essex, Barkshire," on " light and dry grounds which 

 have also a certain natural fruitfulness in them as in Norfolk, 

 Suffolk, most parts of Lincolnshire, Hampshire and Surrey " 

 farmers will adapt themselves to circumstances. On " the barren 

 and unfruitful earths, as in Devonshire, Cornwall, many parts of 

 Wales, Darbyshire, Lancashire, Cheshire, Yorkshire," they must 

 profit by experience. " The best corn land in Europe," in the 

 opinion of Gabriel Plattes, was the Vale of Belvoir. The best 

 cheeses were made at Banbury, in Cheshire, or in the Chedder 

 district. But the latter, says Hartlib's Legacie, were " seldom 

 seen but at Noblemans tables or rich Vintners Sellars." In some 

 places the new crops recommended by the Stewart writers had 

 been tried. Liquorice was grown with success at Pontefract in 

 Yorkshire and at " Godliman " in Surrey ; saffron was established 

 in Essex and Cambridgeshire ; canary seed and caraways were 

 tried in Kent and Oxfordshire ; hops were not confined to Kent, 

 but had spread into Suffolk, Essex, Surrey, and other counties ; 

 sainfoin had been tested at Cobham in Kent ; weld, used for dyeing 

 of " bright Yellows and Limon-colours," flourished near Canter- 

 bury ; madder and woad had been proved to be profitable crops ; 

 the best flax and hemp x were grown near Maidstone, where a 

 thread factory had been recently established, at Bow and Stratford 

 in Essex, and in Nottinghamshire. At a later date the district 

 round Beccles in Suffolk was famous for its hemp ; rape and cole- 

 seed were established in Kent, Lincolnshire, and elsewhere. Kent, 

 Worcestershire, Herefordshire, Gloucestershire, and the neighbour- 

 hood of London were famous for their apples, and as many as 200 

 varieties were collected in a single orchard. The cherries of Kent 

 and the quinces of Essex were in chief repute. " There are now," 

 writes William Hughes, 2 " in Kent and other places of this Nation, 



1 England's Improvement, and Seasonable Advice, etc. (London, 1691) is 

 an anonymous treatise on the growth of hemp and flax. 



1 The Compleat Vineyard, by William Hughes, 1665. A second and enlarged 

 edition appeared in 1670, and The Flower Garden and Compleat Vineyard 

 in 1683. 



