NORTHERN AGRICULTURE. 421 



In the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, agriculture suffered 

 greatly by the English wars and conquests, and by political 

 regulations relative to the export and market price of grain. 



About the middle of the sixteenth century, the first agricul- 

 tural work produced in France made its appearance. It was 

 composed by Bernard de Palissy, a potter, who had written on 

 various subjects. It is a very short tract, composed of econom- 

 ical remarks on husbandry, or rural and domestic economy. 

 Toward the end of this century, under Henry IV. and his vir- 

 tuous minister Sully, considerable enterprise was displayed. 

 Canals were projected, and one begun, and, according to Sully, 

 France in his time abounded with grain, pulse, wine, cider, flax, 

 hemp, salt, wood, oil, dyeing drugs, cattle, great and small, and 

 everything else necessary or convenient for life, both for home 

 consumption and exportation. 



Agriculture of Germany and Other Northern States, from 

 the Fifth to the Seventeenth Century. The nations north 

 of the Rhine and the Danube, during the first half of these cen- 

 turies, were chiefly employed in making inroads or conquests on 

 their southern neighbors ; and during the whole period they 

 were more or less engaged in attacking one another. Under 

 such circumstances, agriculture must either have remained in 

 the state already described, or must have declined. In some 

 states or kingdoms, it may have been less neglected than in 

 others, or even may have improved ; but, during the whole of 

 this period, nothing was effected which demands particular 

 attention. The earliest German author on husbandry is Con- 

 radus Heresbachius, who was born in 1508, and died in 1576. 

 His work was published after his death. It is an avowed com- 

 pilation from all the authors who had preceded him, and con- 

 tains no information as to the state of agriculture around him. 

 It is a dialogue in four books, and also includes gardening. No 

 other books on agriculture, of any note, appeared in Germany 

 during the period under review. 



About the middle of the sixteenth century, the Elector of 

 Saxony, Augustus II., is said to have encouraged agriculture, 

 and to have planted the first vineyards in Saxony ; but, from 

 the implements with which he worked in person, which are still 

 preserved in the arsenal of Dresden, he appears to have been 



