fpi The eighteenth Booke of 



feed tobefowne tliercin I Cato fecteth downe the Husbandmcns worke for t!ie Spring timCj in G 

 thefe tearmes : Caft trenches (quoth he) couch young braunches^and interre them for femina- 

 ries by way of propagation, in cafe the ground bee ftrongj fatj and moift wirhall. Lay dung to 

 your Ehnesj Fig trees, Apple treesjand others oflike fruitjtoOliveSvalfb doe the like: neither 

 forget to manure and muck your medow grounds : but all in a drie moone & about the change. 

 Such fields as are not well watered, defend them as well as you can from the Weft wind Favo- 

 nius : downe with fuperfluous weeds and rid them out of the way ;but and if they be hunful! be- 

 fidesjplucke them up by the roots. Cleanfe Fig trees betweene, where need is : make new femi- 

 naries and nourcc-gardens^and repaire the old. All this would be done before the vine begin to 

 flourc.Moreover,fo fooncas the Peare tree flieweth bloflbme,begin to plough leanejighr^and 

 landic grounds 5 but afterwards you may be bold to goe in hand with the iattcftjfafteft, and moft H 

 wareri{hthatbc:letthcre(Ifay)belafl:tilled. And to conclude briefly, as touching d)is time of 

 ploughing, let this be the marke and rule to guide you jnamely, to fet unto your workeand put 

 plough in ground, when you fee either the Lentiske tree to fhew the hope of her firft fruit,or the 

 Peare tree to blofTome and have a whitehead. There would bee alfo a third tilth or crufhing of 

 the groundjobferved by thcfea-onyon Squilla^among thofe hearbs which have bulbous roots: 

 likewife among floures,by the Daffodill.For as ihefe do bloume thrice,fo they point unto three 

 cimesof ploughing. For by their firit blofTome, they lliew the firlt tilth or breaking up of the 

 ground, by their middle flouring, the fecond fallow oriBrring;and by their third,thclail cru- 

 Ihing. Wherein a man may fee the wonderful! chaine (as it were) that iinketh this world toge- 

 ihcr,wh€reby all creatures therein containcd,givelightfomc tokens anci fignes one to another. I 

 And this may bee obferved alfo in the yvie (a thing verily not of the leaft and laft regard) which 

 mufl: not in any cafe be touched or meddled withall, folongasBeanesbee in their bloume jfor 

 that is the very time and mcane to hurt it mofl and kill itfor ever.Now^as fomc plants there bee 

 that ferve for fignes unto others,fo there be other that carie about them theii owne markc,as for 

 example, theHg-trees:forlooke when they put forth in the head a few leaves hollow, and with 

 the edges turning upward in manner of a fawcer or goblet, befurc that is the rightfeafon & beft 

 time to plant them. . 



Now is it time to returnc from whence wee were digreffedjnamelyjto the calculation of the 

 principall times and quarters of the yeareSjSnd namely,to the Spring ^Equinox, which feemeth 

 to be come and gone alwaies by the o day before the Calends of Aprilljtowit,ihe25 of March. K 

 From which day torwardjby Ceprs calculation,the Calends of Apr ill, to wit,the M day of April] 

 are fignificantjas whereupon the flar Vergilise, /. the Brood-hen-,beginneth to rile or appeare in 

 the au)rningjhowfoever in Attica and the parts thercabout,the faid if ar feemeth to fet or be hid- 

 den in the evening upon the third day before the Nones of Apriiy.the third of thatmondi:and 

 the morrow after, the fame ff arte doth the like in Boeotia. Howbeit, according to C^/dr^Ephe- 

 meridesfor Italic, and the Chalda!ans for Affyria and Babylon, the forefaid ffirre goech downe 

 orretirethout offight upon the Nones of Aprill,/. thefift of Aprill: atwhattimein ^ gypt, 

 as well Orhn as his Sword [both flars in heaven fo called] begin to be hidden. After C^/in rec- 

 koningjthefigneor ffar Libra fetteth in Italy the fixt day before the Ides of Aprill, which is the 

 eigth of the fame monsth ,and fignifieth ftore of raine. The fourteenth day before the Calends £ 

 * ovHyades, of May,which is thceig'itcenth of Aprill, the * Sucuk(a violent and troublcfomeflar,caufing 

 which fomc* ftormes and tempeiU raging both on land and fea) goe downe at evening in ^Egypt ; but in At- 

 nlbcvlsHe" ticatwodaiesberore,towit,ihefixteenthof Aprill: and in Italy, by C^fars booke, the day be- 

 /Lt'odiers' tweeneboth5thatistofay,th2levenreenthdayofthe faid monethjthe influence whereof is ef- 

 fevcn.as Pre- fc^uall for threc daies togither : but in Aflyria it fallcth out twelve daies before the Calends of 

 May, /. the nintcenth of Aprill. This is the ff ar or fignc in the heavens, commonly named Pa- 

 lilicium j becaufe the eleventh day before the Calends of May, t, the 20 of Aprillsthe very birth- 

 day and memorial! feafl of Roirjc citiesfoundation (on which day the weather commonly clea- 

 rethup andisfaire againe) gave folkea notable occafion of obferving the faid ffars retrcator oc- 

 '&fi i eultaiion : howfoever the Greekes have tearmed them * Hyades, by reafon of the rain and foule M 

 *'iTfS,/.of lain, weather which ordinarily they bring. And whereas our countrcymen have called them in Latinc 

 Sucuk, /. porkcts or fiuall fwinc (according ro the apparent Greeke denomination, which they 

 tliought to be derived of ve, founding in Latine Sm^t. a fwine) their fuppofall was falfe, and be- 

 sferayed their great ignorance. Moreover^ C^irnoKih the eighth day before the Calends of 



May, 



