r,AJiRli:i. KEFA'E. e^fr. 107 



Chapter _'5, " First sha\T oft llic hairs and mak<' the phici- hare with the 

 tunu' ot hriiiistonc, ami wliilc hairs will come thcmm.'' 



Although Spei^d's Inxik is interesting it cannot he considcrrd so tar 

 advanced as others ot a icw vears' earlier date, and 1 .igree with Ulith, 

 who savs, " He had a lack ot" practicalit\- and a loxc of reckoning up 

 theoretical schemes of prolit," and he adds that Spt'cd was maintained 

 for divers months hv llartlih " while he was in\cnling some of these his 

 discoveries." "The Husbandman, h'anner, and Cjra/.ii'r's Complete 

 Instrui-for ■' is also put down to him. My cop\- states on the title page, 

 by A. S. Gent, and as the date is ibcjy. In respect to this point the 

 "Dictionary of National Biography" sa\s, "... '{"here is no 

 reason to idt>ntify him with A. S. Gent, the author of " 'Vhc Husband- 

 man, h'armer. and Grasier's Compleat Instructor," ibcjy. The 

 identification is chronologically improbal)K\ ami the book tliffers in 

 character and style from Speed's known works." (See illustration 

 opposite.) 



GABRIEL REEVE. 



This author, who wrote "Directions for the Improvement of liarren 

 Heath Land in England," m 1670, says he had practised husbantlry 

 for thirty years, and had improved much land ; and then went into 

 Brabant and Flanders, where he saw a new lesson to be learned. He 

 mentions largely clover and turnips, and Devonshiring (paring and 

 burning) of land, which was done for £\ an acre. Clay, loam, antl 

 marl are recommended as manures, and to plough deeply, and to dung 

 well. See illustration, page 108. 



SIR CORNELUS VERMUIDEN. 



I boo- 1 660 {about). 



Sir CoR.M-.l.lU.S N'l'lk.Ml'lhKX, K'nighl, held the post of a colonel in the 

 armv of Cromwt'll. He was a Dutchman 1)\- biilh, and wrote " .V 

 Discourse Touching the Draining of the Great h'ennes l)ing within I he 

 several! Counties of Lincolne, Northampton, Huntingdon, Xortolk , 

 Suffolk, Cambridge, and th.' Isle of Kly, as it was Presented to His 

 Majestic." London: I'rinl.-d by Thomas Fawict, dw<lling in Grub- 

 streete neart; the lower 1 'umjx-, i()4_'. .Sir William Hugdale, who some 

 years later wrote a "History on Fml)aid<ments and Water Channels,' 



