OLD AGRICULTURAL WRITERS. 
363 
these are caught, and one or two cut in pieces put 
in a hill when their corn is planted, called Virgin¬ 
ia wheat, and it causeth fertility extraordinary for 
two years, especially the first; for they have had 
50 or 60 bushels to the acre, and yet plough not 
their land, and in the same hills doe plant corn 
for many years together, and have good crops, be¬ 
sides an abundance of Pompions and French or 
Kidney Beans.” 
In Holland, even at that early day, all the urine 
from every source was carefully saved and applied 
to the land. “ Columella saith, that he is an ill 
husband that doth not make 10 loads of dung for 
every great beast in his yard, and as much for ev¬ 
ery one in his house.” — 
After enumerating 23 methods for enriching 
soils, he quaintly though ingenuously adds, “ Last¬ 
ly, To conclude, I may adde as a main Deficiency, 
that though we may by experience find that all 
the foresaid Materials, and divers others, as oft- 
tilling, Husbandry, seasons, &c. change of Seed and 
Land, resting of Lands, fencing, &c. do cause Fer¬ 
tility ; yet we are very ignorant of the true causes of 
Fertility, and know not what Chalk, Ashes, Dung, 
Marie, Water, Air, Earth, Sun, &c. do contribute: 
whether something Essential, or accidental; Ma¬ 
terial, Or Immaterial; Corporal, or Spiritual; 
Principal, or Instrumental; Visible, or Invisible ? 
whether Saline, Sulphureous, or Mercurial; or 
Watry, Earthy, Fiery, Aereal ? or whether all 
things are nourished by Vapours, Fumes, Atoms, 
Effluvia? or by Salt, as Urine, Embrionate, or 
Non specificate? or by Ferments, Odours, Acidi¬ 
ties? or from a Chaos , or inconfused, indigested, 
and unspecificated lump ? or from a Spermatick, 
dampish Vapour, which ascendeth from the Cen¬ 
tre of the Earth, or from the Influence of Heaven? 
or from Water onely impregnated, corrupted, or 
fermented ? or wheather the Earth, by reason of 
the Divine Benediction hath an Infinite, multiplica¬ 
tive Vertue, as Fire, and the Seeds of all things 
have? or whether the multiplicity of Opinions of 
learned Philosophers, (as Aristotle , Rupesc, Sen- 
divog , Norton, Helmont , Des Cartes, Digby, 
White , Plat, Glauber ,) concerning this subject 
sheweth the great difficulty of this Question, which 
they at leisure may peruse. I for my part dare not 
venture on this vast Ocean in my small Bark, lest I 
be swallowed up; yet if an opportunity presents, 
shall venture to give some hints, that some more 
able Pen may engage in this difficult Question, 
which strikes at the root of nature and may unlock 
some of her choycest treasures. The Lord Bacon 
hath gathered stubble (as he ingeniously and truly 
affirms) for the bricks of this foundation; but as yet 
I have not seen so much as a solid foundation; 
plainly laid by any, on which an ingenious man 
might venture to raise a noble Fabrick : I acknow¬ 
ledge the burthen too heavy for my shoulders.” 
The reason for the early neglect of farming in 
England is broadly enough given. “In the times 
of Papistry, all in this Island were either Souldiers 
or Scholars: Scholars by reason of the great hon¬ 
ours, priviledges, and profits, (the third part of the 
Kingdom belonging to them) and Souldiers, be¬ 
cause of the many and great Wars with France, 
Scotland, Ireland, Wales. And in those times 
Gentlemen thought it an honour to be carelesse, 
and to have Houses, Furniture, Diet, Exercises, 
Apparel, &c. yea all things at home and abroad, 
Souldier-like: Musick, Pictures, Perfumes, Saw- 
ces, (unlesse good stomacks) were counted, per¬ 
haps unjustly, too effeminate. In Queen Eliza¬ 
beth’s dayes, Ingenuities, Curiosities, and Good 
Husbandry, began to take place, and then Salt- 
Marshes began to be fenced from the Seas; and 
yet many were neglected, even to our dayes.” If 
we substitute indifference, carelessness, idleness, 
extravagance, and speculation for the “ souldiers 
and scholars” of those days, we shall have the 
great causes of our own deficiencies at the present 
time. 
It is instructive to note the strenuousness with 
which manufacturing was insisted on as adding 
to the profit of agriculture. “ Formerly we were 
so unwise as to send our wool to Antwerp, and 
other places where it was manufactured, by which 
means one pound often brought ten unwrought to 
them, but we now set our own poor to work and 
so save the depopulation.” Our late tariff is do¬ 
ing more for the profits of agriculture among us 
now, than all the improvements in agriculture for 
the last century, by affording a profitable market 
for its products; whereas, before, it was borne 
down by the very success of its efforts; the excess 
of products vastly diminishing its profits. 
Our author laments that, “ its a great deficien¬ 
cy here in England that we have no more Bees,” 
and adds, “ they thrive very much in New Eng¬ 
land.” He recommends not destroying them to 
get their honey, but “ drive them once or twice a 
year as they do in Italy, where a law was made 
that none should destroy a swarm of Bees, unless 
he had just cause, accounting it extream injustice 
and cruelty to take away both goods and lives of 
such good and faithfull servants.” We here see 
that modern hives are but the revamping of old 
ones. 
Raising silk-worms is strongly urged. Hartlib 
says: “ In Virginia the silk-worms are found wilde 
amongst the mulberry woods, and might be man¬ 
aged with great profit in'those Plantations if hands 
were not so scarce and dear.” Now that they are 
both plenty and cheap, we trust our southern 
friends will set about their production in good ear¬ 
nest. Although our author says nothing about the 
spontaneous production of swarms from a dead 
steere, a process so elaborately related by Googe 
for the benefit of such as have more beef than 
bees, yet he sagely conjectures, that “ this silk¬ 
worm of Virginia is produced by the corruption of 
the mulberry tree, as Cochinneal, from Ficus In- 
dica ,” the Indian fig-tree. This superstition of 
spontaneous insect production, is not dead yet, for 
we found last season, the heacbman of one of our 
most intelligent North river agriculturists, a worthy 
Welshman, attributing the worm in wheat to the 
decomposition of the berry consequent on blight, 
and we could not reason him out of it. 
Salt-water for sheep is recommended as a cure 
for rot, scab, and ticks, and “fastening the wool.” 
“ Currying and dressing horses is half as good as 
their meat.” Brimstone and elecampane roots are 
good physic for them. “Housing [soiling,] cattle 
