322 STATE BOAED OF AGKICULTUEE. 



You might be amused for the evening by his quaint and earnest maxims from 

 the ''Ladder to Tlirift," his enumeration of "Husbandly Furniture" in more 

 than twenty crowded verses, or the calendar of duties for the farm and the 

 household, and some migiit even be enlightened by the bachelor's debate over 

 "Wiving and Thriving," but it is all included together in a single verse from 

 ''September's Husbandry" : 



"Good farm and well stored, good housing and dry, 

 Good corn and good dairy, good market and nigh, 

 Good shepherd, good tillsman, good Jack and good Gil], 

 Make husband and housewife their cofiers to fill." 



We might have here a score of names with interesting particulars from each 

 author's works, but it serves my purpose merely to mention a few. The great 

 Lord Bacon wrote essays on the garden, for beautifying home, and for its com- 

 fort ; and is credited with having started the idea of experiment in farming. 

 The learned Hartlib was among the first to express that which now finds utter- 

 ance everywhere, — "the mystery of farming," — and projected an agricultural 

 college as a means toward solving this "mystery." The highly cultivated and 

 voluminous author, Evelyn, found time for treatises on field and forest, the last, 

 his " Sylva," having been the standard for a century or more, and still being 

 needed in every well furnished library of agriculture. Jethro Tull, whose name 

 is familiar to all students of agriculture, was trained in the university and the 

 law school before he made his "Prosperous Farm" famous for its experiments 

 in tillage. Even the philosopher Locke left his speculation upon the human 

 understanding and his theory of ideas to give directions for the culture of vines 

 and olive trees in England. Lord Karnes, everywdiere known as the elegant 

 critic of literature, wrote a work on farming, -to which he brought the same 

 independent judgment that characterizes the Elements of Criticism. Burke, the 

 famous orator, found time to write some excellent thoughts on farming, saying 

 by way of appreciation, "It requires ten times more of labor, of vigilance, of 

 attention, of skill, and, let me add, of good fortune also, to carry on the busi- 

 ness of a farmer with success, than what belongs to any other trade." 



Perhaps I need not bring this glance at the work of leading authors in agri- 

 culture any further down the centuries, for Avithin a hundred years there have 

 arisen a host of earnest students of nature in this field, who like Cobbett and 

 Loudon have dealt in experience, or like Davy and Liebig have sought to dig 

 deeper into the mystery than maxims can take us. Within two hundred years 

 the agricultural journal has grown from nothing into a systematic, scientific 

 treatise. 



But all along this way of progress there have been another sort of treatises 

 on farm matters. Those I have just referred to are the solider work of the 

 solid men. These are the work of would-be poets, lovers of rural pursuits, and 

 friends of the farmer. 



Spenser's " Shepherds' Calendar," of ten referred to, though it bears the name, 

 has scarcely the merits of a treatise on sheep raising ; it is less instructive than 

 poetical. Such indirect tributes to the farm are abundant. Many are more 

 direct, like Herrick's Ode to Country Life. Still others describe means and 

 methods. Cowley gives us "The Garden," of some merit. John Phillips' 

 lengthy poem on "Cider" begins with the apple tree and orchard, and ends 

 with the jovial influence of its cheering juice. Corbet sets forth "Country 

 Life" with its blessings. Dyer has "The Fleece," in four books, to encourage 



