1162 



STATISTICS OF AGRICULTURE. 



Part IV. 



Chap. IV. 

 Of the Literature and Bibliography of Agriculture. 



7108. The first books on agriculture were written by the Greeks before the Christian 

 jcra, and by the Romans about the commencement of that period. Hesiod is the 

 only writer of the former people exclusively devoted to husbandry : the earliest Roman 

 author is Cato, and the latest, Palladius, in the fourth century A.D. The works of 

 these and the other agricultural writers of antiquity have been already enumerated (18. 

 and 44.), and the most interesting have lately been re-translated (7110. anno 1800). 



7109. In the dark ages few books were written excepting on religion. The first 

 author which appeared on the revival of the arts was Crescentius in Italy, in the fifteenth 

 century ; and soon after, in the sixteenth, Fitzherbert in England, Etienne and Liebault 

 in France, Heresbach in Germany, and Herrera in Spain. Since these works appeared, 

 many others have been published in every country in Europe, especially in England, 

 France, and Germany. Though our business is chiefly with the works which have 

 appeared in Britain, yet we shall, after enumerating the chief of them, notice also what 

 has been done in other countries many foreign works, especially of France, Germany, 

 and Italy, "being familiar, either in the original or by translations, to the reading 

 agriculturists of this country. 



Sect. I. The Bibliography of British Agriculture, 



7110. A general view of the literature of British agriculture having been already 

 given (781.), we have here only to supply the bibliographical enumeration confirmatory 

 of that view. Of agricultural books very few at the present day are worth reading for 

 their scientific information ; they are chiefly to be considered as historical documents of the 

 progress of opinions and practices ; and this is the reason we have arranged them in 

 the order of their appearance, instead of classing them according to the subjects treated 

 of. Those who wish to see them so classed will be amply gratified by Watts's 

 Bibliographia Britannica. In our list we have omitted many works on subjects be- 

 longing to political agriculture, as the corn laws, tithes, poor-rates, &c.; and also most 

 of those on veterinary surgery, horsemanship, bees, hunting, planting, &c. , as not strictly 

 belonging to the subject, and as being for the greater part, those on the veterinary art 

 in particular, worse than useless. In short, the improvements in chemistry, animal and 

 vegetable physiology, and the comparatively clear views of political economy which have 

 taken place chiefly since the commencement of the present century, have rendered most 

 books on agriculture, whether political or professional, not published within the last 

 ten years, of very little value, and a number of them more injurious than useful. In 

 our list those authors who have merely written articles published in the transactions of 

 societies, or in public journals or magazines, are seldom introduced, unless they 

 have also written separate works, and translations are in general omitted. 



1532. Fitzherbert, Sir Anthony, a very learned 

 lawyer, and also known as the father of English 

 husbandry, was born at Norbury, in Derbyshire, 

 and died there in 1538. He was made judge of the 

 Common Pleas in the 15th of Henry VIII., and 

 wrote several books on law. 



1. The Book of Husbandry, very profitable and necessary 

 for all persons. Lond. 8vo. 



2. Surveying; and Book of Husbandry. Lond. 1547. 8vo. 



3. The Reading on the Statute 4 Edward I. De Exlenta 

 Manerii. Lond. 15.59. 



1535. Benese, Sir Richard, Canon of Martin Ab- 

 bey, near London. 



The Manner of Measuring all Manner of Land. 



1557. Tusser, Thomas, styled the British Varro, 

 was born near Witham, in Essex, 1515 ; received a 

 liberal education at Eton School, and at Trinity 

 Hall, Cambridge ; lived many years as a fanner in 

 Suffolk, and afterwards removed to London, and 

 published his exjierience in agriculture and gar- 

 dening. He died in 1580. 



1. Five Hundred Points of good Husbandry. Lond. 4to. 



2. Another edition entitled Five Hundreth Points of Good 

 Husbandry, suited to as many of Good Huswifere ; with 

 divers approved lessons concerning Hops and Gardening. 

 Lond. 1573. 



1581. Mascall, Leonard, author of a work on 

 sowing, planting, and grafting trees, &c. 1572. 



1. The iHusbandlye Ordering and Government of Poultrie, 

 &c. Lond. 8vo. 



2. The First Book of Cattel, &c. Lond. 1596. 4to. 



3*. A Booke of Fishing with Hooke and Line, and all other 

 instruments thereunto belonging : another of Sundrie Engines 

 and Trappes to take Polcats, Buzards, Rats, Mice, and all 

 other kindes of Vermin and Beastes whatsoever ; moste pro- 

 fitable for all Warriners, and suche as delight in this kinde 

 of sporte and pastime. Ixmd. 1600. 4to. 



1593. Markham, Gcrvase, Jarvisc^ or Gervas. An 



author, who wrote on a great variety of subjects 

 during the reigns of James I. and Charles I., and 

 died about 1685. He appears, says Harte, {Essays, 

 ii. 32.) to be the first Englishman who deserves to 

 be called a hackney writer. 



1. The English Husbandman ; 2 Parts. Lond. 1613. 4to. 



2. The Country Farmer. Lond. 1616. fol. 



3. Farewell to Husbandry. Lond. 1620. 4to. 



4. Cheap and Good Husbandry, for the well ordering of 

 all Beasts and Fowls, &c. Lond. 1631. 4to. 



5. Enrichment of the VVeold of Kent, &c. Lond. 1631. 

 4to. 



1609. Butler, Charles, Vicar of Wotton, in Hamp- 

 shire, an ingenious writer on various subjects, was 

 born 1559 ; died 1647. 



Feminine Monarchy ; or. The History of Bees, and the 

 due ordering of them. Oxon. 8vo. 



1626. Speed, Adam. 



1. Adam out of Eden ; or. An Abstract of divers excellent 

 Experiments, touching the Advancement of Agriculture. 

 Lond. 12mo. 



2. Husbandman, Farmer, and Grazier's Complete Instructor. 

 Lond. 1697. 12mo. 



1635. Calthorpe, Charles. 



The Relation between a Lord of a Manor and the Copy- 

 holder, his Tenant. Lond. 4to. 



1638. Plattes, Gabriel, author of some tracts on 

 Gardening ; a poor man but a useful writer. Harte 

 says, he had a bold adventurous cast of mind, and 

 preferred the faulty subhme to faulty mediocrity. 

 As great a genius as he was, he was allowed to drop 

 down dead in London streets with hunger ; nor had 

 he a shirt upon his back when he died. He be- 

 queathed his papers to Hartlib, who seems to have 

 published but few of them. 



1. Treatise of Husbandry. Lond. 4to. 



2. Discourse of infinite Treasure, hidden since the World'i 

 beginning, in the Way of Husbandry. 



