September

Thresh seed and go fan, for the plow may not lie;
September doth bid to be sowing of rye.
The ridges well-harrow’d, or ever thou strike,
Is one point of husbandry rye land do like.

Give winter corn^ leave for to have full his lust; [grain]
Sow wheat as thou mayst, but sow rye in the dust.
Be careful for seed, for such seed as thou sow,
As true as thou livest, look justly to mow.

The seed being sown, water-furrow thy ground
That rain, when it cometh, may run away round.
The ditches keep scour’d, the hedge clad with thorn,
Doth well to drain water and saveth thy corn.

Then forth with thy slings and thine arrows and bows,
Till ridges be green, keep corn from the crows.
A good boy abroad, by the day-star appear,
Shall scare Goodman Crow that he dare not come near.

At Michaelmas, mast^ would be looked upon, [nuts of beech and oak]
And lay to get some, or the mast-time be gone.
It saveth thy corn well; it fatteth thy swine;
In frost it doth help them where else they should pine.