 In 1584 he published "A Short Discourse of the most rare Vertue of Nitre" (Gerald Dewes, London), a practical work in advance of the age.He recognised that certain plants grew wherever the minerals responsible for the formation of alum were present in the soil.From this he recognised that the rock from which the alum was made was similar to that abundant in several areas in and around his cousin's Guisborough estate, in present-day Redcar and Cleveland.