CiiAP. VIIL] JgricuUure. 91 



that the Frencli, at this ]5eriod, were in ihc habit 

 of using nine different f^orts of manure ; bat of tiie 

 nature of each we are not informed. It is also 

 said that they v/ere the first people among the mo- 

 derns, who ploughed in green cropS;, for the sake 

 of fertilizing the soil ; and who confmed sheep in 

 sheds at night, for the purpose of increasing the 

 amount of their compost manure*. 



Agriculture next revived in Great Britain. To 

 this, there is reason to believe, the writings of sir 

 Hugh Piatt yery much contributed. lie discovered, 

 or brought into use, many new kinds of manure, 

 and, perhaps, contributed more to the improvement 

 of the art of cultivating the earth, than any other 

 indi\idual of tlie age in w^iiich he lived. He Avas 

 succeeded by Hartlib, a writer much esteemed in 

 his day, but by no means equal to his predecessor. 

 The exertions of these men, and others of less note, 

 together with the peculiar circumstances of the na- 

 tion, prompted persons of the greatest influence to 

 encourage agriculture, to regard it as the most 

 certain and productive source of weahli to tiieir 

 country^ impoverished by preceding wars, and to 

 promote its improvements with zeal, liut this 

 nourishing era of husbandry Avas of short continu- 

 ance. At the Restoration, the country gentlemen 

 relapsed into negligence and dissipation; suiTcn- 

 dered the rural honours which they had beforc 

 sought wkh so much eagerness, and lei\ them to be 

 pursued by the least enlightened part of the com- 

 munity. 



Happily, however, this decline, like the preccd- 



^- Sec Enc) clopaxlia, art. Agriculture. 



