April 28, 1897.] 



Garden and Forest. 



169 



" It is therefore Offered, that whosoever shall disburse and 

 engage any sum, for the encrease of that Stock, and conse- 

 quently the imployment of the Society : shall by an unerring, 

 unaltering rule, receive yearly ; while his money remaines in 

 the hands of the said Colledge, for every 100. pound, 20. pound, 

 and so for a greater or lesser sum proportionably. And if 

 any particular Person shall desire to have his sum disbursed, 

 to be imployed in any one particular single part of this copious 

 Art here before mentioned ; he shall have his desire fulfilled : 

 provided that his Stock be sufficient to drive on that way; and 

 that he be contented to forbeare his revenue till nature hath 

 produced the returne. 



" And whosoever shall thus engage, shall at any time (upon 

 six moneths warning given) call in and again receive his sum 

 formerly disbursed. 



" And all those that shall thus engage, are desired to enter 

 their Names and Sums, by subscribing and delivering the 

 money into the hands of Mr. Samuel Hartlib. And for Security 

 they shall have ; As to Law, the Propounders bond ; As to 

 Love, the word of him that desires to prove himselfe a just and 

 honest man, to God and man, (to his utmost power) and to all 

 Engagers a faithful Steward." 



Having founded the institution to his satisfaction he would 

 next proceed to secure pupils or apprentices ; and these were 

 to be attracted by the following plan : 



" If any Person of quality have a Son or Kinsman 15. years old 

 or upwards, with whom he will give (besides well-suiting him 

 with all necessary wearing apparel, and more, to the value of 

 twenty marks ; in such other necessaries, as the Undertaker 

 shall appoint) 60.1. in ready money at his first Entrance, and 

 bind him Apprentice for seven years ; he shall be in that time 

 faithfully instructed in both the Theorick and Practick parts of 

 this (of all others) most Auncient, Noble and honestly gainfull 

 Art, Trade or Mystery. And at the end of that time, he shall 

 receive at one entire payment, to set up withal, 300. pound. 

 And shall for foure years next ensuing the end of the said 

 7. years, receive at the end of every year 100. pound more ; 

 the better to support him till he have taken sufficient root." . . . 



" Into this Colledge also any man may enter himselfe as a 

 freeman, or Friend to, and Member of the Society ; upon the 

 following conditions. 



" (1.) He must pay down at his Entrance 50. pound, as given 

 to the Society for the encouragement of Ingenuity in the prac- 

 tice of Experiments, for the obtaining of yet more perfection 

 in this (almost) infinite Science. 



" (2.) He must bring with him some skill, at least Ingenuity ; 

 and testifie himselfe to be a Well-wilier to the profession and 

 professors of Good-Husbandry ; and particularly to the Master 

 and Fellowes of this Society. 



" (3.) He must produce at least 250. pound as a Stock to set 

 up for himselfe, to be driven by himselfe, according to the best 

 direction and assistance to be given by the Master and Fel- 

 lowes of the Colledge. 



" (4.) He shall (not swear, but) subscribe himself under hand 

 & seale, a faithful Seeker of the Advancement of the Mystery 

 and Society ; and to be aiding and assisting, to the Master and 

 the Fellowes to his power, at all times, and in all cases, (his own 

 interest always preserved), and to consent and submit to all 

 such Orders, as shall be from time to time made, by the agree- 

 ment of the Master and the Major part of the Fellowes of the 

 said Colledge, for and concerning the same Society, and to 

 stand to their Award in any case of difference : And not 

 directly or indirectly to discover all or any part of the same Art 

 or Mystery to any person whatsoever, upon any pretence what- 

 soever, without their consent first had and obtained. 



" (5.) He must be alwayes in Commons at the Hall of said 

 Society ; at the rate of 8.s. per week, or such other rates more 

 or lesse, as the then present state of things shall require. And 

 he is alwayes to pay off all arreares at the end of each moneth 

 at the farthest, without any deductions for absence how long 

 or short soever. But if he keep a Servant (who must also be 

 in Commons when present) he shall be allowed to deduct for 

 his absence. As also he is not to be accomptable to the Stable 

 for his Horse when absent. 



" (6.) He shall at his first Entrance, pay for Himselfe 10. 

 pound, for his Servant 5. pound, for his Horse 40.S. for their 

 habitation : besides providing of all necessary furniture ; but 

 be ever after free till death or departure. 



" (7.) Lastly, he must be a single man ; and if he shall at any 

 time marry, he is from thenceforth to be accompted dead to 

 the Society, to all intents and purposes whatsoever ; saveonely 

 in point of debt or discovery." 



These propositions seem to have been made public before 

 the date of the volume before me, for, toward the close of the 

 book, the writer again addresses his reader personally and 



complains of the " Backwardnesse of men " to join with him ; 

 and lie then resolves the objections which have been urged 

 against the scheme into three categories : 



"First, the supposed Impossibility of performing (on my 

 part) the thing promised. 



"Secondly, the Newnesse of the Invention or Contrivance, 

 which renders it within the list of things Inspected. 



"Thirdly, the Non-appearance of any such good Security as 

 is held sufficient to encourage men to joyne with me freely, 

 fully and speedily (that is, seasonably)." 



To these he made answer, and seems to be somewhat impa- 

 tient that the scheme should not at once arise into fulfillment. 

 How blessed was Hartlib that he had no prevision, and could 

 not know the long travail of two centuries which lay between 

 him and the agricultural school ! 



Who was Samuel Hartlib ? He seems to have been the son 

 of a Protestant Polish merchant who had tied to Prussia to 

 escape persecution. Hartlib emigrated to England about 1628, 

 and died there about 1670. He identified himself with the 

 literary and educational life of his time, and also wrote pro- 

 fusely of agriculture and religion. He was the friend of 

 Evelyn, Pepys and Milton, and the latter dedicated to him, 

 with much praise, his treatise upon education. He appears to 

 have been one of the group from which the Royal Society 

 sprung. There is record that he spent much of his income in 

 helping indigent scholars, and he finally became so straitened 

 in circumstances that Parliament granted him a small pension. 

 He seems to have been a most benevolent and honorable 

 character, and to have enjoyed the full confidence of his con- 

 temporaries. No less than twenty-two books are known to 

 have been written by him, of whicli the one under considera- 

 tion seems to have attracted nearly or quite the least attention. 

 There seems to be no record that his desire to found an agri- 

 cultural school ever came to tangible results ; but it would not 

 be strange if this little essay upon " Husbandry- Learning" 

 should, after all, be the chief means of carrying Hartlib's name 

 and life to future generations. 



Cornell University. L. H. Bailey. 



Recent Publications. 



Nature in a City Yard. By Charles M. Skinner. New 

 York : The Century Co. 1897. 



That any one who deliberately and avowedly writes 

 about nature should be compared with Thoreau is inevita- 

 ble. It is not surprising, therefore, that the publishers of 

 this neat little book send out with it a slip in which some 

 critic is reported as saying that one can get a good idea of 

 Mr. Skinner's work by imagining Thoreau transported from 

 his home in the woods to a densely populated city and 

 compelled to substitute a Brooklyn back yard for his be- 

 loved Walden Pond. Mr. Skinner himself would smile at 

 this comparison, for he does not pose as a poet or a mystic 

 or a profound philosopher. He writes simply like a man 

 of merry fancy with a keen habit of observing the surface 

 of things. He makes no pretense of being an authority on 

 entomology or botany or horticulture, and yet he says 

 many interesting things about insects and their ways, and 

 about plants and their cultivation. He makes no labored 

 attempt to evolve a moral here and there or establish 

 recondite analogies between the processes of the physical 

 and spiritual universe. His essays, which are not without 

 a delicate humor, ripple along in a stream of refined com- 

 ment upon ordinary city sights and sounds, with nothing 

 to mar their simplicity and grace except an occasional 

 effort at fine writing. The book is neatly printed and has 

 an attractive cover which will harmonize well with the 

 furniture of a shady piazza on a summer afternoon, and 

 the loiterer who picks it up for a half-hour's recreation will 

 not be disappointed. 



Notes. 



Catawba grapes are still seen in some of the fancy- fruit stores 

 and look as fresh as when gathered six months ago. A box 

 holding three pounds sells tor fifty cents. 



During last week 5,242 barrels of pineapples came from 

 Havana to this port. The entire output from Cuba will amount 

 to from 100,000 to 125,000 barrels this season, about half the 

 usual yearly export. 



