1922.] WisnoM and Folly of Vncibnt Book-Farmeks'. '211 



A Variety of Manures. — The most interesting of Sir Eugh 

 riat's observations are those on manures for arable and pasture 

 land. They are contained in the second part of his Jewell House 

 of Art and Nature (1594). He is so enamoured of his subject 

 that manure presents itself to his vision as a Goddess with a 

 Cornucopia in her hand. Basing his theories on Bernard 

 Palissy, he argues that perpetual cropping robs the earth of 

 her vegetative salt. Therefore the wise husbandman must 

 continuously replace the elements of its fertility. He recom- 

 mends a valuable list of manurial substances. He urges that 

 existing practices allowed the vegetative salts of dung to 

 evaporate by long exposure to the sun and so waste the richest 

 properties of farmyard manures. He therefore suggests its 

 accumulation in covered pits. He advises the use of marl, 

 with a warning that it should be proportioned to the needs 

 of different sorts of soil. His other manurial substances in- 

 clude lime, street refuse, the subsoil of ponds and " watrie 

 bottomes," the brine of Cheshire " salt pittes," ashes, the 

 hair of beasts, malt-dust, soap-ashes, putrified pilchards, 

 entrails of animals or fish, and blood offal. 



Fifty years later than Plat, several agricultural writers 

 were busy on the subject of manures. Among them was a man 

 of ingenious and inquiring mind, Gabriel Plattes, the " Coin- 

 setter." His Discovery of Infinite Treasure " was the use 

 of the fertilising qualities of the substances carried off by water. 

 In the soil of streams, in mud of tidal waters, and in all 

 " coloured " water, he finds the " fatness " of the land. He 

 suggests catch-pits to receive the water of " land-flouds," 

 especially where they come from fertile fields or paved market- 

 towns. He also advises ditches and sluices to admit tides to 

 run in swiftly and pass out slowly. In both cases, the deposit 

 makes a valuable manure which will fertilise the most barren 

 soil. All " coloured " water should be similarly utilised on the 

 land insteady of being allowed to run to waste. 



Contemporary with Plattes, were Walter Blith (1649) and 

 Child (1651). Both give lists of manurial substances which 

 supplement the suggestions of Plat. Putting their recom- 

 mendations together, we get a fairly complete list of the 

 fertilisers recommended for use by agricultural writers of the 

 17th century. They include marl, lime, and chalk: farm-; etrd 

 manure, which Child says must not be too much exposed to 

 sun and rain; pigeon and poultry dung: swine's dung, which 

 Fitzherbert says was harmful because it bred thistles; ashes, 



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