lirsllANDRY. 



lll'SBANDKY. 



i to Mil the land more tflhctually, they were, upon the whole , 

 t u>d mora indulgent landlord* than the n,,M. , who. provided they 

 strand retain* od applied their hoith..l.U with necc*ariM, gave 

 theraselvn little trouble about anything clue. Bread made of rye, 

 barley, peat, or bean*, wa the principal food of the labourer*, who 

 were attached to the soil, and had no right to remove to another place 

 or atrre any other matter. The immediate tenant* of the lord of the 

 oil cultivated a portion of the land* which they held for their own 

 uee, and let the remainder to onaller tenants, who, although born free, 

 were little tore the condition of the labourer*, and lived much in the 

 same manner. There wai *o little capital among the farmer*, that the 

 lire itock wan frequently the property of the landlord, and waa let 

 with the land, a* well as the servant*. As to implementa, they were 

 very few In number, and rudely taade by the farmer himself ; an iron 

 plough-share, an axe, and a cpade, were the principal instruments for 

 which he had to pay. 



Oxen, which could bo kept on the common pastures at little expense, 

 were need for thn plough ; and BO badly fed were they in general, that 

 it required six oxen to draw a plough, which barely turned up half an 

 acre in a summer's day. Them oxen consumed all the straw of the 

 farm in winter, and little was left to make manure of. Hone* carried 

 the corn to the mill or market on their backs, the roads being mostly 

 impassible for wheel-carriages, which indeed were unknown in many 

 part* of the country. 



These particular* can only be gleaned out of various authors, who 

 incidentally mention the state of the agricultural population, and from 

 ancient deeds and document*. 



With the revival of letter*, and especially with the invention of the 

 art of printing, greater attention began to be paid to rural affair* : but 

 all the early English or foreign authors who touch on the subject of 

 agriculture took their notions from the Latin writers I)e Re Jtialifa, 

 and rather say what should be done, than what really was done.i 



The first English author of any note who wrote on husbandry was 

 Sir Antony Fitzherbert, who has by many been looked upon as the 

 father of English husbandry. He published his ' Book of Husbondrie ' 

 in 1523. This work throws considerable light on the state of the 

 farmers in those days, who, with their wives and children, worked hard, 

 and were little raised above the common labourers, except that they 

 were freemen. A yeoman who had land of his own was a very indepen- 

 dent man ; but his mode of living was extremely plain, and he had no 

 luxuries. Money was seldom seen in his possession. He lived on the 

 produce of hi land, and fed hi labourers at his own board. Wool was 

 the principal article sold. The sheep were kept on extensive commons, 

 at little expense ; and in some places the folding of them on the land 

 waa the principal mode of recruiting it when exhausted. The great 

 difficulty was to keep them alive in severe winters, and many pci '. -In .1 

 every year. The only provender they had was hay ; and as artificial 

 glasses and turnips were unknown, natural meadows paid an enormous 

 rent, when compared with arable land. For want of winter pro- 

 vender for cattle, many were killed which were not sufficiently fat. 

 Very little fresh meat was eaten after Christmas, and every family 

 nad oxen and sheep killed and salted in autumn to lost till tin- next 

 summer. 



In th- time of Elizalieth some attention began to l>e paid to the 

 improvement of husbandry, but m> works of any note have come down 

 to us In which wo can discover that any considerable change was made 

 in the common modes of tillage or in the roaring and feeding of 

 cattle. 



The situation of the fanners however ap|>car.s to have improved : 

 they began to acquire wealth and to increase their dome'tie comforts. 

 The farm-houses were more solidly built and OMnOMlitaUl, having 

 before been chiefly constructed of wood, and the walls plastered with 

 clay. 



Cromwell encouraged husbandry, and gave a pension to Hartlih, who 

 published in 1641 a work on the husbandry of Flanders, and another 

 In 1851, called the ' Legacy of Husbandry.' Walter Bligh, the friend 

 and contemporary of Hartlib, published in 1052 another work called 

 "The Improver Improved.' This work is deserving of nod 

 contain* very sound principle* of husbandry, with many excellent 

 observations, which may be of great use even in onr days. The author 

 mentions clover as an important object of cultivation introduced from 

 the Netherlands ; and he may be considered as the first who recom- 

 mended sowing this plant for feeding cattle. Sir Kiehard Weston, 

 who soon after gave an account of the cultivation of turnips '" Flanders, 

 laid the foundation of the improved system of husbandry, of which 

 the feeding of cattle and sheep on turnip* in whiter Is the , hi. i 

 feature. 



From that time till the present day huslmndry has improved slowly 

 but regularly. With the increase of population and a consequent 

 increaneil demand for the produce of the soil, there has arisen a new 

 species of speculation, that of reclaiming waste lands, by which the 

 estate* of many landed proprietors have been greatly improved, lint 

 the most important step has been the granting of long leases to those 

 who were inclined to lay out their capital and employ their skill in 

 improving frm. The security which the law give* to a leaseholder 

 and his independence of his landlord, provided the rent be duly paid, 

 afford* the greatest encouragement to industry ; and it will be Invariably 

 found that the improvement of any district i* proportioned to the 



length of time for which leaee* are granted then, at fair annual not, 

 without uncertain fine*. 



The spirit of improvement and the hope of increasing hi* income 

 often lead a man to mistaken experiment* and consequent loss ; but 

 the experience thus gained is alway* valuable to the community. 

 Jethro Tull, a gentleman who had a property near Hungerford in 

 Berkshire, introduced a mode of cultivation which wu prevalent in 

 Lombardy, and was borrowed from the practice of gardeners, who sow 

 and plant their vegetables in row* with wide Intervals. Finding that 

 in rich (oils the produce was much increased by stirring the earth 

 round the roots of plant*, he formed a theory respecting the food of 

 plant*, which he imagined to bo extremely finely attenuated " earth." 

 He thought that manure* acted only mechanically, and that I 

 tinually stirring the soil it might bo kept peri 't \ially fertile." The 

 attractive part of this theory was, that whereas the supply of manure 

 is limited, there is no limit to labour, and that consequently an increase 

 of population only required an increase of tillage to supply it with food. 

 Tull was admired, and hi* theory adopted by many eminent men. 

 His practical system, to which the name of drM-hoibamdry has been 

 given, was looked upon as one of the most important discoveries. 

 Notwithstanding that his imagination led him too far, ho must be 

 considered as one of the great promoter* of good husbandry, 

 his errors have been useful by making men observe and reflect ; and 

 the introduction of machines to drill the seed in rows, and of others 

 to clean and hoe the intervals, which he principally suggested, has been 

 of infinite une to the improved cultivation of the soil. 



The rearing and fattening of cattle on the produce of arabl. 

 which followed the introduction of sainfoin, luoem, and other HI 

 grasses, and the cultivation of roots for the same purpose, have made a 

 great change in the old systems. Manure i* produced in greater quan- 

 tity ; the land increases in productive power, and will bear more 

 frequent crops of corn ; better implementa have been invented to save 

 labour and to do the work more completely ; and a system of draining 

 has been introduced, which has corrected the groat fault of most strong 

 soils in northern climate* excessive moisture, which cannot evaporate. 

 Many causes have concurred to produce these improvements. At one 

 time high prices Induced men to lay out their capital on the cult 

 of the soil ; at another, low prices stimulated industry to make up by 

 an increased production for a deficiency in the value ; and what has 

 contributed greatly to keep attention directed towards agricultural 

 improvements is, the rapid increase of the means of communicating 

 information by the press. Every successful experiment, every new 

 method which the inventor thinks of importance, is speedily announced 

 to the public. 



The improvements which have been made in the breeds of cattle and 

 sheep may be considered as entirely modern. The profit which some 

 eminent breeders have made, and, to some extent, still make, by their 

 attention ami their skill, is n suth'cient inducement to excite competition. 

 Mr. Collins and Mr. Bakewell may be cited as examples of successful 

 attention to breeding. Mr. Collins obtained at a public sale of his 

 cattle 



For 1 7 cowl of all age 2669 



For 1 1 bulls *249 



For 7 bull-calves under ono year old . , . 064 



For 7 heifers 80S 



For 5 hcifcr-ealvcs under one year . . . 906 



Unking for 47 head of cattle of all age* . . 8687 



h priees have been, sinee his time, of late years rivalled by the 



\\ell-bred -toek. 



To enumerate the various works which have come from the press on 

 subjeei I with hud Jd be to give a catalogue 



large lil'i 'i \ . \\ V can only mention some of the principal authors, 

 such as Lord Kames, Marshall. Arthur Young, Sir /John Sine! .1 

 Dieksoii. Of these, the most original author is i first. 



But the works of Arthur Young are those which ntl'ord the fullest 

 information on the state of British husbandry in tin 1 latter half of 

 the 18th century, and did most towards it general ini] 

 The ' Farmer's Magazine,' which appeared in 1800, anil continues under 

 a new set of editors to this day, has done niu.li good in disseminating 

 useful practices in husbandry. British husbandry owes much to tin- 

 zeal and activity of individuals who have fon : . for its im- 

 provement. The Bath and West of England Society, which still exists, 

 and has of late years greatly extended its operations, ha 

 instrumental in spreading the knowledge of practical h 

 much useful information is contained in the Kesris of its Transaction*. 

 The Highland Society of Scotland, of which all the principal pro; 

 and most of the large occupiers of land in Scotland are mcinlx-rs, 

 has greatly contributed to encourage experiments, and to \ 

 improvements in every branch of husbandry. 



The Board of Agriculture, at the head of which WM Sir .b.lin 

 Sinclair, the zealous promoter of all measures for diflusing agricultural 

 information, although it rather disappointed the hopes and expectations 

 formed at it* commencement, and has for some time ceased to exist, 

 was the means of diffusing a knowledge of the state of hul 

 throughout Britain, at the beginning of this ,-eiitury, by the publication 

 of the Agricultural Surveys of the different counties, the snbst.v 

 which was condensed in the ' British Husbandry,' in 2 vols., published 



