University of Virginia Library

Chapter 12.
Extraordinary meanes for building, many caveats,
increase of corne, how to spoyle the woods, for any thing,
their healths.

FOR the building houses, townes, and fortresses, where shall a
man finde the like conveniency, as stones of most sorts, as well
lime stone, if I be not much deceived, as Iron stone, smooth stone,
blew slate for covering houses, and great rockes we supposed Marble,
so that one place is called ∥ the marble harbour:

There is grasse
plenty, though very long and thicke stalked, which being neither
mowne nor eaten, is very ranke, yet all their cattell like and prosper
well therewith, but indeed it is weeds, herbs, and grasse growing together,
which although they be good and sweet in the Summer, they
will deceive your cattell in winter; therefore be carefull in the Spring
to mow the swamps, and the low Ilands of Auguan, where you may
have harsh sheare-grasse enough to make hay of, till you can cleare
ground to make pasture, which will beare as good grasse as can grow
any where, as now it doth in Virginia; and unlesse you make this
provision, if there come an extraordinary winter, you will lose many
of them and hazard the rest, especially if you bring them in the latter
end of Summer, or before the grasse bee growne in the Spring, comming
weake from Sea. All things they plant prosper exceedingly:
but one man of 13. gallons of Indian corne, reaped that yeare 364.
bushels London measure, as they confidently report, at which I much
wonder, having planted many bushels, but no such increase.

The best way wee found in Virginia to spoile

the woods, was
first to cut a notch in the barke a hand broad round about the tree,
which pill off and the tree will sprout no more, and all the small
boughs in a yeare or two will decay, the greatest branches in the root
they spoyle with fire, but you with more ease may cut them from the
body and they will quickly rot: betwixt those trees they plant their
corne, whose great bodies doe much defend it from extreme gusts,
and heat of the Sunne, where that in the plaines, where the trees by
time they have consumed, is subject to both; and this is the most
easie way to have pasture and corne fields, which is much more fertile
than the other: in Virginia they never manure their overworne fields,
which is very few, the ground for most part is so fertile: but in New-England
they doe, sticking at every plant of corne, a herring or two,
which commeth in that season in such abundance, they may take
more than they know what to doe with.

Some infirmed bodies, or tender educats,

complaine of the
piercing cold, especially in January and February, yet the ∥ French
in Canada, the Russians, Swethlanders, Polanders, Germans, and
our neighbour Hollanders, are much colder and farre more Northward,
for all that, rich Countreyes and live well. Now they have
wood enough if they will but cut it, at their doores to make fires, and
traine oyle with the splinters of the roots of firre trees for candles,
where in Holland they have little or none to build ships, houses, or
any thing but what they fetch from forren Countries, yet they dwell
but in the latitude of Yorkshire, and New-England is in the heighth
of the North cape of Spaine, which is 10. degrees, 200. leagues, or
600. miles nearer the Sunne than wee, where upon the mountaines
of Bisky I have felt as much cold, frost, and snow as in England, and
of this I am sure, a good part of the best Countries and kingdomes of
the world, both Northward and Southward of the line, lie in the same
paralels of Virginia and New-England, as at large you may finde in
the 201. page of the generall history.

Thus you may see how prosperously thus farre they have proceeded,
in which course by Gods grace they may continue; but great

care would be had they pester not their ships too much with cattell
nor passengers, and to make good conditions for your peoples diet,
for therein is used much legerdemaine, therefore in that you cannot
be too carefull to keepe your men well, and in health at Sea: in this
case some masters are very provident, but the most part so they can
get fraught enough, care not much whether the passengers live or die,
for a common sailer regards not a landman, especially a poore passenger,
as I have seene too oft approved by lamentable experience,
although we have victualled them all at our owne charges.