26 



FARMERS' REGISTER-TUSSERS "FIVE HUNDRED POINTES." 



more than common time to boil, and may be eaten 

 raw without otlending the throat; this was a wel- 

 come improvement among the negroes, and was 

 esteemed a blessing, they being delighted with all 

 their African food, particularly this, Avhich a great 

 part of Africa subsists on." 



I will now give you my method of cultivation. 

 Time of pkmting Irom the middle ol' JVIai-chto the 

 first of May — soil rich and loose — neither too high 

 and dry, or too low and wet. "Where old hog 

 pens have been, answer well; at all events the 

 ground should be ^vell manured to ensure a good 

 crop; after the ground has been well dug up and 

 levelled, make up hills three feet apart every way, 

 or four leet if the ground is very rich, the hills not 

 to be as large or as high as potato hills. II" you 

 have no small tanniers, take the larger ones, slice 

 off the top or crown part about an inch thick, and 

 quarter the rem:under lengthwise, making five 

 pieces from each; plant one small tannier, or one 

 of the cut pieces (cut side down,) in the middle of 

 each hill, about five inches deep — when u]>, and 

 two leaves unfolded, haul up the earth to tliem 

 and hoe the grass between the hills — three times 

 hauling up will be sufficient, as the leaves soon 

 prevent the further use of the hoe — nothing more 

 will be required until harvest. 



As soon in October or November as the leaves 

 indicate a smart frost, cut them off about a foot 

 from the hill, and dig up the roots carefolly, ex- 

 pose them to the sun and air all day, at night pile 

 them up and cover them lightly with the leaves, 

 or put them into the barn, first shaking off as 

 much of tlie dirt as you can — in a few daj's you 

 will find the stems of the leaves soft and rotting 

 — you must then pare them off close to the root — 

 trim off the fibrous roots — put them in your potato 

 house, or other close place — separating the larger 

 for use, and the smaller lor the next year's plant- 

 ing; no vegetable is more easily cultivated, nor 

 keeps better throughout the year. 



The tatinier should always be pealed before 

 boiling, and the large roots cut into two or three 

 parts, and three hours boiling will be sufficient. 



WILI^IAM LOGAN. 



ACCOUNT OF 'p'lVE HUNDRED POINTES OF 

 GOOD HUSBANDRIE,' &C. 



By Thomas Tcjsser, Gent, first published in 1652. 

 From the [Edinburgh] Farmers'" Magazme. 



Sir — The valuable papers in your Magazine, 

 entitled, 'View of the Progress of Agriculture in 

 Great Britain,' seem to have induced some of your 

 corres])ondents to ])eruse the works of our earliest 

 ■writers on rural affairs, which formerly had been 

 thought unworthy of notice. It may excite sur- 

 prise, in this book-making age, that the number 

 of British agricultural publications, ]irior to 1700, 

 ehould be comparative^ so very limited, and that 

 none should be known to have existed prior to 

 1534. There appear to have been a few French 

 translations circulated before this period; but history- 

 assures us, that Fitz-Herbert is the first English 

 author who wrote expressly on husbandry; and 

 hence he has been frequently styled the Father 

 of husbandry. 



In perusing the earliest writings on husbandry, 

 it is not to be expected that the modern agricultu- 

 rist is to derive much professional information. 



But certainly it is both pleasing and interesting to 

 know the ancient state of agriculture, and the suc- 

 cessive improvements it underwent. I therefore 

 cordially approve of the plan you have adopted of 

 giving a short view of the leading doctrines taught 

 in our early works on that subject; and cannot help 

 thinking, that a new echtion should be published 

 of the greater number of them. 



The "object of the present communication is to 

 give an account of the 'Five Hundred Pointes of 

 Good Husbandrie,' &c. by Tliomas Tusser, some- 

 what more full than is exhibited in the 'View of 

 the Profrress of Agriculture in Great Britain.' 

 This book was published in 1562, and has gone 

 through several editions. The one before me is 

 dated 1580. It is written in rhyme, but cannot, 

 in general, boast of the beauties of p-oetiy. It 

 contains much extraneous matter, particularly on 

 religions subjects, a custom then very prevalent. 

 But it has alwaj's been considered as containing a 

 pretty faithful view of the state of agriculture at 

 the time it was vv ritten. 



It appears, from Epistles to Lords Paget, father 

 and son, and from an article with the title of the 

 'Author's Life,' that Tusser was born of a good 

 family at Rivenhall, in Iilssex; received a lilDeral 

 education; went to Court, where he seems to have 

 been patronized by Lord Paget, and, for ten years, 

 lived as other thoughtless young men do. He 

 then married, and retired to Suffolk, v/here he 

 seems to have engaged in agriculture rather from 

 necessity than choice. It was here he first formed 

 the plan of his Book; though, at this time, he 

 does not appear to have had any high idea of the 

 profession. 



'As in this booke, wlio list to looke. 

 Of husbandrie, and huswiferie, 

 There may he find more of my minde 



Concerning this: 

 To carke •&, care, and ever bare, 

 With losse and paine, to little gaine. 

 All this to have, to cram Sir Knave 



What life it is.' 



He did not live long in Suffolk, and indeed seems 

 to have been too restless a person to remain long in 

 any situation. After many vicissitudes, the last 

 notice of him is, that he fled from London during 

 the Plague, and settled at Cambridge, and proba- 

 bly obtained some appointment in Trinity College, 

 where he had completed his education. In his 

 earljr years, he had been a singing-boy in a cathe- 

 dral, and probably now turned his musical talents 

 to some account; for, among other shifts 'to help 

 to live,' he says, 



'Let musicke win, let stocke come in.' 

 He seems to have been altogether a veiy eccen- 

 tric sort of person, but withal, at least in his latter 

 days, remarkably devout and repentant, and veiy 

 anxious to put j'oung people on their guard against 

 the follies in which he had himself once indulged. 

 The Booke of Husbandrie before us, alter 14 

 chapters of preliminaiy matter, complimentary, 

 quaint, and somewhat dolorous, begins with Se])- 

 teniber, and proceeds in regular succession, through 

 all the other months of the year, though the ob- 

 servations on the operations proper for that month, 

 are not supposed to commence till Michaelmas, 

 the term of entry to farms in England; and the 

 observations in August are to be understood as 

 extending to that period. 



