908 



The Enclosure of Open-Field Farms. 



[Jan., 



the breeding of live stock, and be shows his perception of the 

 future of mixed husbandry and of the alliance between the 

 sheep-fold and the corn-bin, or between the bullock-yard and 

 the granary, when he says that the man who tries to grow 

 corn without stock, or to keep stock without corn, must either 

 be "a buyer, a borrower, or a beggar." But wath the 

 Elizabethan and Stewart writers the suggestion of new 

 practices, new crops and new rotations are multiplied. Betw^een 

 1577 and 1689 most of the changes which have revolutionised 

 British farming in the 19th century were discussed and fore- 

 shadowed in agricultural literature. We have, for example, 

 the field cultivation of rape, of " Trefoil or Burgundian Grass," 

 and of turnips suggested in 1577. Lucerne followed early in 

 the next century, and potatoes in 1664. We have, in 1594, 

 the scientific manuring of arable and pasture discussed, a great 

 variety of fertilising substances recommended, the waste of 

 the valuable properties of farmyard manure condemned, and 

 closed covered receptacles suggested. The value of Peruvian 

 guano was recognised in 1602. The drilling of corn instead of 

 broadcast sowing was urged in 1604, and a drill patented in 

 1634. Before the end of the 17th century the aid of science 

 was invoked, and an Agricultural College demanded. Oil 

 cakes, silos and ensilage had been observed in use abroad, and 

 their introduction recommended. Drainage was discussed by 

 Walter Blith in 1649, with a sense and sagacity which were 

 unrivalled until the 19th century and Smith of Deanston. The 

 abolition of " slavish customs, the extinction of vermine," 

 and the recognition of tenant right, sound modern demands; 

 but they were strenuously urged in 1649. Cumbrous ante- 

 diluvian implements were condemned, and numerous inventions 

 patented. The " reaping car," the double-furrow plough, the 

 drill which made the furrow, sowed the seed and deposited the 

 manure, show that agricultural pioneers were attending to- 

 machiner}'. Greater attention to stock breeding was recom- 

 mended. Breeds of cattle are distinguished according to the 

 purposes for which they should be bred: this is reckoned the 

 best for meat, that for draught, that for milk. Similarly, 

 sheep are distinguished by the quality of their wool. Pigs take 

 a prominent place as being " the Hnshandmans Best Scavenger 

 and the Huswifes most Wholesome Sink but as to breed no 

 county has a better than its neighbour, unless it be Leicester- 

 shire. 



Here are indicated by agricultural writers in the 16th and 

 17th centuries, some of the most important features in the 



