Corpus of Electronic Texts Edition
A Briefe description of Ireland: made in this year, 1589, By Robert Payne (Author: Robert Payne)
section 2
The copie of an instruction for a warraine
First, you must choose two acres of very drie ground, and compasse it with a ditch as round as a circle, fiue footes deepe, and seuen footes wide: let the slope side of your ditch be towardes your warraine, and that wayes throw vp all your earth: let the out side be plum vpright, which you must presently payle, otherwise
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the earth will fall in: then plante your trees not aboue viii. ynches deepe, and at the least xxiiii foote asunder: lay at euery roote close about the tree, as much pease strawe as a man will cary vnder his arme, the which will keepe the roote moyst in sommer and warme from frostes in winter. The best time to set your trees is shortly after Michaelmas: which verefieth an old prouerbe in Kent: if thou wilt a good tree haue, let him carrye a greene leafe to his graue. In the very middest of your ground you must make a little lodge, in the which you must haue eight seuerall hutches, so placed that they may be alwayes open into the warraine, in euery hutche you must tye with a little chaine a tame bucke connie of the best kinde: then store your warraine with 64. of the better sorte of tame female connies, which is for euery bucke viii. doas, euery weeke the first quarter: and then moonthly you must wash your trees with water, so high as a conny can reach, wherin you must burst the garbage of a connie. Also euery weeke you must drawe a peece of carraine at the foote of your payle in the bottome of your ditch round about your warraine, by which meanes your connies will neuer offer to touch your trees, nor com neere the payle to scrape them selues out. You must feede your connies with the shortest and sweetest hay you can get: you may giue them gras, & any hearbes or weedes: they will eate foure dayes in a weeke in sommer, and two daies in winter, but not aboue for feare of the rotte: yet let them haue haye enough at all times, you may fatte them with graines mixed with oates, brane, or French wheate: you must giue your connies euery day one oate sheafe, which will alwayes keepe
them hearty, sound, and fayre skinned. I doe accoumpt your charges in keeping your connies to be xx. markes a yeere: that is, your warrainers board and wages viii. li. and the connies meate v. li. vi. s. viii. d. the increase at an indifferent reckoning, will be seuen litters a yeere: euery connie of the best kind will bring vi. Rabbites at a litter, where one of that sorte bringeth fewer, two will bring moe, some will bring ix. litters in a yeere: and that doa is not worth the keeping, that bringeth not vii. litteres a yeere. The value of this increase after the aforesayd rates, and at viii. d. the couple, (which the very skinnes with good husbandrie of most of them will be worth,) amounteth to the summe of xliiii. li. xvi. s. a yeare. But for feare you should fayle in your reckoning, as the woman did that supposed all the egges in her basket wer capons: I woulde haue you allow for casualties, xi. li. ix. s. iiii. d. so resteth aboue all charges of the warrainer, and their meat, xx. li. by yeere de claro, which I thinke (being wel vsed) can yeeld no lesse: although this kind being bred in
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houses doe not eate sweet, yet being bred after this manner, they are both the biggest, fattest, and sweetest connies that are.