i6o AGRICULTURAL WRITERS. 



very fond of salt, and the swan sits for six weeks. The cost of work 

 done on the farm was very low in Mortimer's day. Ploughing land, 5^-. 

 per acre ; harrowing, is. ; reaping and binding wheat, 5.5-. per acre, rye, 

 4.5-. ; mowing oats, is. per acre ; digging garden ground, .\d. per pole; to 

 make a hedge and clean a ditch, 5^. per pole ; to cut grass and make 

 hay of it, 2^- ^^- to 5-S"- per acre. There is an interesting chapter on 

 coppices and what the statutes say regarding the cutting down of the 

 undergrowth and the number of trees to be left standing per acre. Over 

 100 pages are devoted to gardening, and another lengthy chapter on 

 brewmg, in which he recommends the little book by Sir Jonas Moore, 

 discussed on page 153. Nottingham ale seems to have been a 

 speciality in those days. He gives the recipe for making mum, as 

 recorded in the Townhouse in Brunswick. The " Farmer's Calendar" in 

 directions of monthly work would do credit to any modern publication, 

 and convincing evidence of the importance of Mortimer's book is the 

 fact that it was translated into the Swedish language. 



BISHOP WILLIAM FLEETWOOD. 



1656-1723. 



Among the arts cherished and improved in the monasteries of early 

 davs I have read of many monks who were skilled in the cultivation 

 of the land, and Sir Richard Benese, of Merton Abbey fame, 

 was one of the earliest exponents in the measuring of land, see 

 page 31. Bishop Fleetwood, the subject of our present review, was the 

 translator of the book of which a facsimile of the title page is given 

 opposite. He was born in the Tower of London in 1656, and educated 

 at Eton and Cambridge. He became chaplain to King William and 

 Mary, and in 1708 was created Bishop of St. Asaph, being translated to 

 Ely six years afterwards. He died at Tottenham in 1723, and was buried 

 in Ely Cathedral. He was considered one of the best preachers of his 

 clay, and his writings were generally read and admired, their influence 

 being confirmed by the benevolent heart and mind which produced them. 

 In a learned discourse, called the author's preface, he states that in the 

 most happy ages of the world men fed only upon the products of the 

 earth, and he regrets that in his day the love of ease and luxury hindered 

 any proper application being given to perfect agriculture and gardening. 

 He maintains that all the illustrious families of the Roman Common- 

 wealth were descended from herdmen, ploughmen, and gardeners, the 

 rich and vicious dying away because of their want of stamina, such as is 



