I/O AGRICULTURAL WRITERS. 



abundance." This may account for the many old mulberry trees one 

 sees in old-fashioned gardens. 



Chapters on mines, minerals, and quarries, iron and ironworks, lead, 

 salt, coals, and coke are all of the most interesting character. A division 

 of the book is devoted to trees, their uses and culture, and the rest to the 

 fruit and kitchen and flower gardens. 



Laurence was born at Stamford in 1668, being eldest son of the 

 vicar there. He attained to his B.A. at Clare Hall, Cambridge, in 

 1688, and obtained his M.A. previous to moving to Yelverton, in 

 Northamptonshire. He remained here until 172 1, when he obtained the 

 Durham Rectory of Bishop Wearmouth, became a Prebendary of 

 Salisbury the year following, and died at his rectory on May 17th, 1732. 

 He was buried in the chancel of his church, and a stone with an inscrip- 

 tion was placed over his remains.'^ 



RICHARD BRADLEY. 



1688-1732. 



This author deserves pre-eminent notice as one of the most voluminous 

 writers upon agriculture and gardening. He was the first to concentrate 

 in a considerable degree the best of the contents of the earlier books on 

 these subjects, and also one of the first to treat of agriculture as a science. 

 His writings were so prolific that he must have attached his name or 

 approval to more than twenty publications between 1716 and 1730, and 

 an attempt to analyse them all would be a task that could not well be 

 carried out here, so that I will only specially mention his books on 

 agriculture, the facsimile prints of the title-pages of two of them being 

 reproduced in these pages. In these he quotes largely from Fitzherbert, 

 Hartlib, Houghton, and Mortimer; vet his points are most sensibly 

 handled, and show a well-informed and comprehensive mind, as he intro- 

 duces a more methodical arrangement than any previous writer on 

 agriculture ; indeed, his \\ork would pass muster with that of many a 

 modern writer. His " Survey of Ancient Husbandry," 1725 ; "A Com- 

 plete Body of Husbandry," 1727; "The Riches of a Hop Garden 

 Explained," 1729, are all intelligently written, whether they are the 

 records of his own pen or not. (See illustrations, pages 175 and 176.) 



I have sought, but so far in vain, for particulars of Bradley's early 

 history. However, it is known that in 17 17 he was residing at Camden 



* See " Notes on the Life and Works of John Laurence, Rector of Bishop Wearmouth, 

 1721-32." By G. O. Bellews, M.A. (Reprinted from " Antiquities of Sunderland." Printed 

 for the Sunderland Antiquarian Society, vol. iv., pages 36-57.) Sunderland. 1905. 8vo. 

 For private circulation. 



