FARMERS' REGISTER— GOOGE'S ARTE OF HUSBANDRY. 407 



evidently occurred more than a century before 

 could be discovered amongst the forest. 



BARIfABY GOOGe's "WHOLE ARTE AND 

 TRADE OF HUSBANDRY." 



From the Fanners' [Edinbiirgl\] Magazine. 



As you were pleased to express your approba- 

 tion of the account I gave you of * The Boke of 

 Husbandry,' by Fitzherbert, I sit down to fulfil 

 my promise to send you a similar analysis of an 

 agricultural work printed in 1577, translated from 

 the German of Conrad Heresbach, by ' Barnabe 

 Googe, Esq.' Before I begin, however, I will 

 just observe, that I think I have found a very sa- 

 tisfactory account of Fitzherbert and his book, 

 which clearly i)roves to me that he flourished in 

 the reign of Henry Vni,as a Justice in the Court 

 of Common Pleas, and died in 1538. Now, the 

 date of my edition is 1555, consequently, though 

 this particular copy is not so valuable (being, as I 

 had conjectured, a later edition,) yet there is little 

 doubt that the work itself was first published in 

 1534, or 118 years instead of 97 years, as I had 

 asserted, before the publication of Blyth's 'Im- 

 prover Improved.' Respecting the doubts which 

 nave been raised as to the real author of * the 

 Boke,' the following extract from Chalmers's 

 Biographical Dictionary may throw some light 

 upon the subject. It was published first ' in 1534, 

 ' and several times after in the reigns of Mary and 

 ' Elizabeth. It is said, in an advertisement to the 

 'reader, that this book was written by one Antho- 

 ' ny Fitzherbert, who had been forty years an 

 ' husbandman ; from whence many have concluded, 



* that this could not be the Judge. But, in the 



• preface to his Book '' Of irlensurinj Lands." he 

 'mentions his book " Of Agriculture;" and, in 

 ' the advertisement prefixed to the same book, it is 

 ' expressly said, that the author of that treatise of 

 ' " Measuring," was the author of the book " con- 

 ' cerning the Office of a Justice of Peace." Whence 



* it appears, that both those books were written by 

 ' this author.' 



Barnaby Googe, the translator of ' the Whole 

 Arte and Trade of Husbandrie,' is supposed to 

 have been born about the time Fitzherbert died, 

 viz. 1538. He was a relation of Sir William 

 Cecil, Queen Elizabeth's minister, and had distin- 

 guished himself by many poems, particularly a 

 volume of Eglogs, Epitaphes and Sonnetes,' now 

 very rare. He was also much given to translating, 

 both in verse and prose ; and, in 1577, produced 

 the volume before us. It is printed in black-letter 

 quarto, by Richard Watkins, and contains 193 fo- 

 lios. The work consists of four bookes , the first 



• entreatyng of Earable Ground and Tyllage,' ' of 

 Pasture Ground and Tyllage,' and ' of the Order 

 of Harvest; the second' entreatyng of the Order 

 of Gardning' 'of the Ordrynge of Orchardes,' and 

 of the Ordring of Wooddes ; the third ' entreatyng 

 of Cattell ;' the fourth ' entreatyng of Poutry, 

 Foule, Fishe and Bees.' 



It is a sort of dialogue, and, for quaintness and 

 simplicity, reminds us of Walton's Angler. After 

 describing the various occupations of an husband- 

 man, and bestowing suitable commendation on hus- 

 bandry, both for its antiquity and ' woorthinesse,' 

 CoNO (the farmer) proceeds to describe the dif- 

 ferent parts of his house and offices; after which, 



his friend Rioo asks him, ' I pray you let me haue 

 your opinion of the feeld, and the tilture 'thereof; 

 ' for I see you are a perfect husbande, and nothing 

 ' unskilful!. I have a great desyre to hearc some 

 ' rules, and such as serue our turne best.' 



CoNo. 'If it be a shame for an apprentice at 

 ' the lawe, and a pleadar of causes, to be ignorant 

 'of the lawe wherein he dealeth, a greater shame 

 ' is it for a professor of husbandry to be unskilful 

 'in the ground Avhereon his whole trade lyeth. 

 ' Howe is he able to judge uprightly in husbandry, 

 ' that knoweth not whic-he way to tyll his lande? 

 ' The professours of all other artes do commonly 

 ' keepe to themselves suche things as be the chiefe 

 'mysteries of their knowledge. Contrariwyse, 

 ' the husbande rejoyceth to haue every body made 

 ' priuye to his skill ; and being demanded in what 

 ' sort he dooth this or that, he gladly declareth his 

 ' whole dealing in every poynt; Such goodnatur'd 

 ' men dooth this knowledge make. I have ordered 

 ' my ground here, according to the diligence of the 

 ' olde fathers, rather then for the wantonnesse of 

 ' these times. Therefore I wyl fyrst shewe you 

 ' their opinions, and afterwards myne owne fancie.' 



He then points out the various kinds of soil, with 

 rules for ascertaining the good from the bad ; from 

 whence he proceeds to discourse on manures. 

 Speaking of chalk, he tells us, ' In Germanie, this 

 ' maner of mendyng of ground is common. But 

 ' long use of it, in the ende, brings the grounde to 

 'be Starke nought, whereby the common people 

 'have a speache, that grounde enriched with 

 ' chalke makes a riche father and a beggerly sonne.' 

 After enumerating the different sorts of grain and 

 pulse, he proceeds to point out the various manners 

 of sowing and harvesting them. Among the im- 

 plements used for this purpose, the modern farmer 

 will be surprised to hear the description of a reap- 

 ing machine! an invention which, anno 1817, is 

 expected very soon to be brought to bear; and 

 great credit has been bestowed on the ingenuity 

 of the meciianic for the utility and novelty of his 

 invention. Googe, anno 1577, alludes to it as a 

 worn-out invention, a thing ' whiche was woont to 

 be used in France. The devise was, ' a lowe kinde 

 ' of carre with a couple of wheeles,and the frunt 

 ' armed with sharpe syckles, whiche, forced by the 

 ' beaste through the corne, did cut down al before 

 ' it. This tricke,' he says shrewdly enough, 

 ' might be used in levell and champion countreys; 

 ' butwithusitwoldemake but ill-favored woorke.' 



We next come to ' the lettying of a farme,' on 

 which point our author's remarks are very judi- 

 cious and liberal. ' In the lettying of a farme,' 

 says he, ' this thing is to be obserued, that )'ou let 

 ' it to suche, whose trauayle and good behauiour 

 * you may be assured of, and that you regard more 

 ' their good ordring of the lande then the rente, 

 ' which is least hurteful and most gaynefull. For 

 ' where as the grounde is well husbanded, you shall 

 ' commonly haue gayne, and never losse, except 

 ' by unreasonablenesse of the weather, whiche the 

 ' civil lawyer sayth should not be any damage to 

 ' the tenaunt, or the invasion of the enimie, where 

 ' the tenaunt cannot helpe it. Besides, the lorde 

 ' must not deal with his tenaunt so straightly in 

 ' every poynt, as by lawe he might, for his rent 

 ' dayes, bargaynes of woode, quitrents, or suche, 

 ' the rigour wherein is more troublesome then 

 ' beneficial : neither ought he to take every ad- 

 ' auntage, for lawe many times is right plaine 



