THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



299 



Normans for introducing an improved system of 

 cultivation. Thousands of husbandmen, from the 

 fertile plains of Flanders and Normandy, came 

 and settled in this country, and introduced a 

 course of husbandry similar to that pursued in 

 their own country. The clergy, and especially the 

 monks, during these unsettled times, were, in con- 

 sequence of their sacred avocation, left undis- 

 turbed, and bestowed considerable attention to the 

 cultivation of the soil. 



In the fourteenth century we find Edward III. 

 gradually abolishing slavery — yes, slavery; for, up 

 to this time, the peasantry of England were slaves, 

 bought and sold with an estate ; and it was not 

 until the Reformation that they entirely rose out 

 of their degraded position, and those emancipated 

 applied themselves to husbandry as well as trade 

 and manufactures. England at this time imported 

 corn; for, in consequence of the quality and quan- 

 tity of wool that was grown here, a large export- 

 ation was done in the article by many of the 

 bishops and abbots, who were allowed to engage in 

 mercantile pursuits ; their trading vessels, in which 

 they sent their wool to foreign markets, bringing 

 in return large quantities of corn. During the 

 fifteenth century England was engaged in civil 

 wars between the houses of York and Lancaster, 

 and such multitudes of labourers fell in battle, 

 that there remained not sufHcient to cultivate the 

 soil, so that a great deal returned to pasture. In 

 the reign of Henry VII., a law was passed by 

 which the large estates of the barons might be 

 subdivided and sold, so that rich commoners could 

 become landed proprietors ; and from this, origin- 

 ated that highly respected class — the country gen- 

 tlemen of England; and, from the accession of this 

 monarch to the throne, cultivation began to pour 

 upon the kingdom its numerous advantages — 

 the culture of hops was introduced, and the breed- 

 ing of horses encouraged. After the beginning of 

 the sixteenth century, agriculture partook of the 

 general improvement consequent upon the inven- 

 tion of printing : the first book upon the subject 

 was written by one Sir Anthony Fitzherbert, a 

 Judge of the Common Pleas, in the reign of 

 Henry VIII., in which he describes the advantage 

 of quick-setting, hedging, and ditching : he also 

 lays down a line of conduct for a young gentleman 

 to thrive; and also points out the duties of a farm- 

 er's wife; and, if 1 may judge from the number 

 and character of these, she must have had no easy 

 time of it. In the reign of Edward VI., the great 

 demand for our woollen manufactures increased, 

 so that a great portion of the land that formerly 

 had been cultivated was now converted into pas- 

 ture, for they considered it more profitable to feed 

 sheep and cattle than to grow corn; hence num- 

 bers of labourers were thrown out of employment ; 

 rents were enormously raised, and the corn farm- 

 ers ruined : these men had their friends, who 

 raised their voices in their behalf; for we read of 

 Bishop Latimer preaching before the king and 

 pleading their cause: "Let them," referring to the 

 farmers, '-'have sufficient to maintain them and 

 find them in necessaries : a plough land must 

 have sheep to dress the ground for bearing corn ; 

 they must have swine for their food to make their 



bacon of— their bacon is their venison, it is their 

 necessary food to feed on, which they must not 

 lack ; they must have other cattle, as horses, to 

 draw their ploughs, and the carriage of things to 

 market, and kinc for their milk and cheese, which 

 they must live upon and pay their rents." How- 

 ever this state of things did not last long; for as 

 the growth of wool increased in other countries, 

 the production of it in England diminished, and, 

 as corn was scarce and dear, its growth was ren- 

 dered more lucrative, and land gradually returned 

 into cultivation. The condition of the yeoman at 

 this time was of a very humble character; their 

 farms were small, for we find one of the most 

 respectable yeomen of his time did not occupy 

 more than 100 acres. Bishop Latimer, speaking 

 of his father, says, " My father was a yeoman, and 

 had no lands of his own ; he had only a farm of 

 three or four pounds, by the year, at the \itmost ; 

 and hereupon he tilled as much as kept half-a- 

 dozen men : he had a walk for a hundred sheep ; 

 and my mother milked thirty kine." This good 

 man must have been a successful manager, for 

 out of this little farm he kept his son at school 

 till he went to the university, and maintained him 

 there ; he married his daughters with five pounds, 

 or twenty nobles, each ; he kept hospitality with 

 his neighljours, and some alms he gave to the poor: 

 from this account it is quite certain Mr. Latimer 

 was no disgrace to his class. Agricultural writers 

 now became numerous. Tusser, called by some 

 the British Varro, flourished in the reign of 

 Elizabeth, and wrote his "Five Hundred Points of 

 Husbandry," in doggerel rhyme, in the year 15S0, a 

 specimen of which I will give you. He divides the 

 produce of the land into ten purposes : — 



" One part cast forth for rent due out of hand. 

 One other part for seed to sow thy land ; 

 Another part leave parson for his tithe, 

 Another part for harvest, sickle, and scythe ; 

 One part for plough-wright, cart-wright, knack- 

 er, and smith. 

 One part to uphold thy teams that draw there- 

 with ; 

 One part for servant and workman's wages lay. 

 One part likewise, for fill-belly, day by day ; 

 One part thy wife for needful things doth crave. 

 Thyself and child the last one part would have. 



Who minds to quote, upon this note, 



May easily find enow; 

 What charge and pain to little gain 



Doth follow toiling plough. 

 Yet farmer may thank God and say 



For yearly such good hap ; 

 Well fare the plough that sends enow 



To stop so many a gap." 



Poor Tusser's notions of apportioning one-tenth 

 part of the produce for rent would not suit the 

 landlords of the present day. Sir Hugh Piatt 

 also wrote a work upon the " New and Admirable Art 

 of Setting Corn," published in 1 GO 1 , by Peter Shorte, 

 dwelling at the sign of the " Starne " on Bread- 

 street Hill. He had a knowledge of the value of 

 artificial manures ; for he says, " Shavings of horn, 

 upon mine own experience, I must of necessity 



