WM.rr.R lU.llll. 97 



WAl/ri'K 151.1 111 



1620-1690 {about). 



TllK th;ui<;(' ot" gcnt'rnmeiU inlrodiu-cd by llic ("oininonucallh 

 brouglit forward upon tlu> stage ot" lilc many cniincnl characttTs who 

 but for llu' altoration would probabK ncxcr ha\ c been heard ot, and 

 whatever opinions may be formed ot that method ot rule as applied to 

 this country, no denial can be made that it met a need at the time, and 

 was favourable in a high degree to the development of genius and enter- 

 prise. It acted as a social commotion which moved the stagnation of 

 the human mind and put into motion the wheels of action that had stood 

 still for the want of impulse towards progression. Walter Blith appears 

 to have been a landlord in Yorkshire, and acted in a military capacity as 

 a captain in Cromwell's army in Ireland. Canon Hart says*: 



Ireland, it must be confessed, had a wretched method of husbandry, and strong 

 prejudices in behalf of that method till about 1650, when Blith alone, who then lived 

 in Ireland, was sufficient to open men's eyes by his incomparable writings. But the 

 truth is that he and many other Englisli officers and soldiers of Cromwell's army, being 

 enriched b}' military grants and settlements, first laid the right foimdations of 

 husbandry in that kingdom. 



His writings touch cNerx- branch of the industr\-, and he seems to 

 have entertained the lirst systematic conceptions of the benetits that 

 would attend the " alternate husbandry." He recommends the breaking 

 up of all inferior grass lands, and shows the public loss from constant 

 pasturage. I'he wearing out of lantl b\' loo ccjiistant ploughing is much 

 condemned and the want stated of a renovating pasturage. He describes 

 and figures the sowing and wheel ploughs and the double implement 

 with two mould boards, and notices the turnwrest plough of Kent. I It- 

 appears also to have known the drill plough, and says expressly that " it 

 ploughed, sowed, and harrowed at one and the same time, and is largelv 

 used in Norfolk." He also recommends many green fodder plants, 

 which, along with root crops, effected a complete re\olution in the 

 cultivation of the soil in his day. 



His first book is entitled " The English Improver : or, a .\ew .Sur\e\- 

 of Husbandry," in six chapters, making 16S pages. It is adch'tssed " To 

 those of the High and Honourable Houses of Parliamrnl whose \acancies 

 from the great Rusinesse of th<' Kingdom will admit the reading," and 

 printed in London for J. Wright at the King's Head in the Old Bailey, 

 1649. In i65_' there appeared "The English Improxir, Improved," of 

 which the frontispiece and title-page are reproduced on pages 98 and 99. 

 This l)ook is aridressed to the Right Honourable the Lord (ieneral! 

 Cromwell and the Right Honourable the Lord l'r<'sid<nt .ind the r.sl ot 



* "Essays on Husb.indry," 1767. 



