658 



FARMERS' REGISTER 



[No. 11 



in a net, lecding on his stack, pluck'd oft' their tails, 

 and let them go; which, though they could tly 

 forwaid home, yet were soon alier lound dead in 

 the dove-cote, lamished fur want ol' food, as un- 

 able to fly up perpendicularly, and so out al the 

 lover. 



"Pigeons, against their wills, keep one lent for 

 seven weeks in the year, betwixt the going out ol 

 the old, and growing up of the new grain. Pro- 

 bably, our English would be ibund as docible and 

 ingenious as the Turki>^h pigeons, which carry let- 

 ters from Aleppo to Bahilon, if trained up afcor- 

 dingly. But such practices, by these wmg-posis, 

 would spoil many a loot-post*, living honesily by 

 that painful vocation. 



" I find a grevious indictment drawn up against 

 the poor pigeons Ibr Itjlony, as the grand pluntler- 

 ers of strain in this land. My author, computing 

 six and twenty thousand dove-houses in England 

 and Wales t, and allowing five hundred pair m 

 each house, lour bushels yearly Ibr each pair, hath 

 mounted the annual wast they make to an incre- 

 dible sum. And, if the moiety of his proportions 

 hold true, doves may be accounted the causers of 

 death, and justly answer their etymology in he- 

 brew ; Jonah, which is deduced from a root, sig- 

 nijying to spoil or to destroy. The advocates lor 

 pigeons plead, that they jiick up such loose corn 

 ivhich otherwise would be lost, and uselesly Iroden 

 into the earih ; that probably divine providence, 

 which leedeth the fowls, by some natural instinct 

 directeth iheni to such grain which would be bar- 

 ren and fruitless; that iheirdung, incredibly fruit^ 

 fu! lor the manuring of ground, abundantly reconi- 

 pensi'tli tiip spoil done by them. 



'•However, if pigeons be guilty ofso great stealth, 

 they saii^sty the law lor the same, being generally 

 kill'd Ibr man's meat ; and a corrected pigeon (let 

 blood under both wings) is both pleasant and 

 wholesome nourishment." 



" Tlie great storm in Somerset- shire- May He, 

 who bindelh the sea in a girdle of sand, confine it 

 within the proper limits thereof, that Somerset-shire 

 may never see that sad accident return, which 

 hap'ned here 1607 ; when, by the irruption of the 

 Seavern-sea, much mischief was, more had been 

 done, if the west-wind had continued longer with 

 the like violence. The country was overflown, al- 

 most twenty miles in length, and four in breadth, 

 and yet but eighty persons drowned therein. It 

 was then observable that creatures of contrary na- 

 tures; dogs, hares; foxes, conies ; cats, mice ; get- 

 ting up to the top of some hills, dispensed at that 

 time with their antipathies, remaining peaceably 

 together,without sign of fear or violence one to- 

 wards another; to lesson men in publick dangers, 

 to depose private differences, and prefer their safety 

 before their revenge." 



'^Bristol diamonds. These arc the stars of the 

 earth, though such but dimme ones, which St. V^in- 

 cent's rock near to this City [Bristol] doth produce. 

 Their price is abated by their paleness and sultnesse, 

 lo which we may add their number and nearness ; 

 for, were they but few and far-feiched, their value 



*Dr. Fuller never dreamt of the despatch made by 

 mail coaches. N. 

 t Samuel Hartlib, of husbandry, his legacy, p. 227. 



would be advanced. They are not those unions, 

 pearles so called, because thrifty nature only affor- 

 deth them by one and one * ; seeing that not only 

 twins, but bunches and clusters of these are found 

 togeiher. 



Were this rock of raw diamonds removed into 

 the East- Indies, and placed where the beams of 

 the sun nnght sutliciently concoct them ; probably 

 in some hundreds of years they would be ripened 

 into an orient perfection. All I will add is this;'' 

 a lady in the reign of Queen Elizabeth would have 

 as patiently digested the lye, as the wearing ol'I'alse 

 stones or pendants ol counterfeit pearl, so common 

 in our aire ; and 1 could wish it were the worst 

 pieces oi' hypocrisy in fashion." 



'^Lampreys. "In Latine lampetrce u lamhendo 

 petras '-Irom licking the rocks," are plenlifullin 

 this and the neighbouring counties in the river of 

 Severn. A deformed fish, which, for the many 

 holes therein, one would conceive nature intended 

 it rather for an inslrument of musick then (or nian's 

 food. The best manner of dressing whereolj saith 

 my author t, is "to kill it in malmesey, close the 

 mouth thereol with a nutmegg, the holes with so 

 many cloves ; and when it is rolled up round, put- 

 tinij in thereto tilbard-nut-kernells stamped, crums 

 of bread, oyle, spices, &c." Others (but those 

 miso-lampreys) doe adde, that, alter all this cost, 

 even cast them away, seeing moiu^y is better lost 

 then health ; and the meat will rather be delicious 

 then wholesome, the eating whereof cost King 

 Hemy the Fiivt his life f. But by their favour, that 

 king did not dye of lampreys, but of excess in eat- 

 ing them; audi am confident the Jews might 

 surfet of manna itsellj if eating thereof above due 

 proportion. *'>' s ;» 



Z,ime. " I am credibly informed that, within 

 few miles of Pontfract, no less than twenty thou- 

 sand pounds worth of this coarse commodity is 

 yearly made, and vended in the vicinage. It is a 

 great fertilizer of ground, if judiciously disposed of. 

 Indeed the laying of lime on light and sandy 

 ground (like the giving hot cordials to persons in 

 high fijavourous, enough to drive them into a fren- 

 zy) will soon burn out the heart thereof; which 

 bestowed on cold and chill ground, brings it to a 

 fruitlLill consistency, and, prudently ordered, it will 

 for a long time retain the same. 



ORCHARD GRASS. 



From tlie Western Farmer. 

 The code's foot grass (Daciylis glomerafa. L.) 

 known in America by the name of orchard grass, is 

 an imperliict perennial, and grows naturally on dry 

 sandy soil. It is a native of the United States. 

 This grass may be known by its coarse appear- 

 ance, both of the leaf and spike ; and also by its 

 whitish green hue. It is probably better adapted 

 than any other to sow with clover, on lands inten- 

 ded for pasture. Its good properties consist in the 



* Uniones, quia nulli duo simul reperientur." 

 Pliny's Natural history, lib. IX. cap. 35. 

 I Camden's Britannia, in Worcestershire. 

 X Stow's Chronicle, p. 142. 



