AGRICULTURE. 



G3 



way, wheel not engaged in active service, their com- 

 manders seem to have had greatly the advantage 

 over our modem generals. The Roman soldiers, in- 

 rtead of loitering in camps, or rioting in towns, ener- 

 vating their strength, and corrupting their morals, 

 were Kept regularly at work, on objects highly bene- 

 ficial to the interests of those whom they subjugated. 

 In the ages of anarchy and barbarism which suc- 

 ceeded the fall of the Roman empire, agriculture 

 was almost wholly abandoned. Pasturage was pre- 

 ferred to tillage, because of the facility with which 

 sheep, oxen, &c., can be driven away or concealed 

 on the approach of an enemy. The conquest of 

 England by the Normans contributed to the im- 

 provement of agriculture in Great Britain. Owing 

 to that event, many thousands of husbandmen, from 

 the fertile and well-cultivated plains of Flanders and 

 Normandy, settled in Great Britain, obtained farms, 

 and employed the same methods in cultivating them, 

 which they had been accustomed to use in their na- 

 tive countries. Some of the Norman barons were 

 great improvers of their lands, and were celebrated 

 in history for their skill in agriculture. The Norman 

 clergy, and especially the monks, did still more in 

 tliis way than the nobility. The monks of every 

 monastery retained such of their lands as they could 

 most conveniently take charge of, and these they culti- 

 vated with great care under their own inspection, and 

 frequently with their own hands. The famous Thomas 

 aBecket, after he was archbishop of Canterbury, used 

 to go out into the field with the monks of the monastery 

 where he happened to reside, and join with them in 

 reaping their corn and making their hay. The imple- 

 ments of agriculture, at this period, were similar to 

 those in most common use in modern times. The 

 various operations of husbandry, such as manuring, 

 ploughing, sowing, harrowing, reaping, threshing, 

 winnowing, c., are incidentally mentioned by the 

 writers of those days, but it is impossible to collect 

 from them a definite account of the manner in which 

 those operations were performed. The first English 

 treatise on husbandry was published in the reign of 

 Henry VIII., by Sir A. Fitzherbert, judge of the 

 common pleas. It is entitled the Book of Husbandry, 

 and contains directions for draining, clearing, and 

 enclosing a farm, for enriching the soil, and rendering 

 it fit for tillage. Lime, marl, and fallowing are 

 strongly recommended. " The author of the Book 

 of Husbandry," says Mr Loudon, " writes from his 

 own experience of more than forty years, and, if we 

 except his biblical allusions, and some vestiges of the 

 superstition of the Roman writers about the influence 

 of the moon, there is very little of his work which 

 should be omitted, and not a great deal that need be 

 added, in so far as respects the culture of corn, in a 

 manual of husbandry adapted to the present time." 

 Agriculture attained some eminence during the reign 

 ot Elizabeth. The principal writers of that period 

 were Tusser, Googe, and Sir Hugh Platt. Tusser's 

 Five Hundred Points of Husbandry was published in 

 1562, and conveys much useful instruction in metre. 

 The treatise of Baniaby Googe, entitled ff/iole Art 

 of Husbandry, was printed in 1558. Sir Hugh Platt's 

 work was entitled Jewel Houses of Art and Nature, 

 iind was printed in 1594. In the former work, says 

 Loudon, are many valuable hints on the progress of 

 husbandry in the early part of the reign of Elizabeth. 

 Among other curious things, he asserts that the Span- 

 ish or Merino sheep were originally derived from 

 England. Several writers on agriculture appeared 

 in England during the commonwealth, whose names, 

 and notices of their works, may be seen in Loudon's 

 Encyclopaedia of agriculture. From the restoration 

 down to the middle of the eighteenth century, agri- 

 culture remained almost stationary. Immediately 



after that period, considerable improvement in the 

 process of culture was introduced by Jethro Tull, a 

 gentleman of Berkshire, who began to drill wheat 

 and other crops about the year 1701, and whose 

 Horsehoeing Husbandry was published in 1731. 

 Though this writer's theories were in some respects 

 erroneous, yet even his errors were of service, by ex- 

 citing inquiry, and calling the attention of husband- 

 men to important objects. His hostility to manures, 

 and attempting, in all cases, to substitute additional 

 tillage in their place, were prominent defects in his 

 system. After the time of Tull's publication, no 

 great alteration in British agriculture took place, till 

 Robert Bakewell and others effected some impor- 

 tant improvements in the breed of cattle, sheep, and 

 swine. By skilful selection at first, and constant 

 care afterwards to breed from the best animals, 

 Bakewell at last obtained a variety of sheep, which, 

 for early maturity, and the property of returning a 

 great quantity of mutton for the food which they 

 consume, as well as for the small proportion which 

 the weight of the oflall bears to the four quarters, 

 were without precedent. Cully, Cline, lord Somer- 

 ville, Sir J. S. Sebright, Darwin, Hunt, Hunter, 

 Young, &c., have all contributed to the improve- 

 ment of domestic animals, and have left little to be 

 desired in that branch of rural economy. Among 

 other works on agriculture, of distinguished merit, 

 may be mentioned the Farmer's Letters, Tour in 

 France, Annals of Agriculture, &c., by the cele- 

 brated Arthur Young ; Marshall's numerous and 

 excellent works, commencing with Minutes of Agri- 

 culture, published in 1787, and ending with his Re- 

 view of the Agricultural Reports in 1816 ; Practical 

 Agriculture, by Dr R. W. Dickson,c. The writings 

 ofKaimes, Anderson, and Sinclair, exhibit a union 

 of philosophical sagacity and patient experiment, 

 which have produced results of great importance to 

 the British nation and to the world. To these we 

 shall only add the name of John Loudon, F. L. S. 

 H. S., whose elaborate Encyclopaedia of Gardening 

 and Encyclopaedia of Agriculture have probably 

 never been surpassed by any similar works in any 

 language The establishment of a national board 

 of agriculture was of very great service to British 

 husbandry. Hartlib, a century before, and lord 

 Kaimes, in his Gentleman Farmer, had pointed out 

 the utility of such an institution, but it was left to 

 Sir John Sinclair to carry their ideas into execution. 

 To the indefatigable exertions of that worthy and 

 eminent man, the British public are indebted for 

 an institution, whose services cannot be too highly 

 appreciated. " It made fanners, residing in different 

 parts of the kingdom, acquainted with one another, 

 and caused a rapid dissemination of knowledge 

 amongst the whole profession. The art of agricul- 

 ture was brought into fashion, old practices were 

 amended, new ones introduced, and a degree of exer- 

 tion called forth heretofore unexampled among agri- 

 culturists in this island." We shall now make a tew 

 remarks on the agriculture of different countries of 

 Europe and of the United States. FRENCH AGRICCLT 

 TURE began to flourish early in the 17th century, un- 

 der Henry IV., and a work on that subject was pub- 

 lished by Olivier de Serres. In 1761, there were 

 13 agricultural societies in France, and 19 auxiliary 

 societies. Those of Paris, Amiens, and Bourdeaux, 

 liave distinguished themselws by their memoirs. 

 Du Hamel and Buffon made the study of rural 

 economy fashionable, and other writers contributed 

 to the advancement of husbandry. M. de Trudaine 

 introduced the Merino breed of sheep in 1776, and 

 count Lasteyrie has written a valuable work on 

 sheep-husbandry. The celebrated Arthur Young 

 made an agricultural survey of France in 1787 89. 



