36 HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE. Part I.

bors; and during the whole period they were more or less engaged in attacking one another. Under such circumstances, agriculture must eithe hav e remé ee in the state which we have already described(178.), or it must have declined. In some states or kingdoms it may have been less neglected than in others, or may even have improved;

but during the whole of this period, nothing was effected which demands particular attention. glans 193. The earliest German author on husbandry is Conradus Heresbachius, who was| jssfond of

born in 1508, and died in 1576. His work, De Re Rustica, was published after his death. Itis an avowed compilation from all the authors who had preceded him, and contains no information as to the state of agriculture around him. It is a dialogue in four books, and includes also gardening. The persons are Cono, a gentleman retired

tothe country; Rigo, a courtier; Metelea, wife of Cono; and Hermes, a servant. vce of thet The conversation is carried on in Cono’s house, and on his farm, and the different\— fisslares, under t speakers are made to deliver all that has been said by all the Greek and Roman writers,‘

from Hesiod to Pliny, by Crescenzio and other Italians, and by various writers on general subjects: they converse on the advantages of agriculture as a pursuit; on its general maxims and practices; on the culture of particular plants, and the economy of the house and garden.

194. No other books on agriculture of any note appeared in Germany during the period under review. About the middle cf the sixteenth century, the Elector of Saxony, Augustus II., is said to have encouraged agriculture, and to ie ave ple anted the first vine-

yard in Saxony; but from the im}»lements with which he worked in person, which are sill preserved in the arsenal of D: oe on, he appears to have been more a gardener than

rage, alld One

afarmer. It is to be regretted that the histories of the arts in the northern countries cot ele j i‘ i TOW Lands In€ during the middle ages are very few, and so little known or accessible, that we cannot rele

derive much advantage from them.

Secr. IV. History of Agriculture in Britain from the Fifth to the Seventeenth Century.

195. Britain, on being quitted by the Romans, was invaded by the Saxons, a ferocious and ignorant people, by whom agriculture, and all other civilized arts, were neglected. In the eleventh century, when the Saxons had amalgamated with the natives, and con- stituted the main body of the English nation, the country was again invaded by the Nor- mans, a much more civilized race, who introduced considerable improvement. These

two events form two distinct periods in the history of British agriculture, and two improvement| others will bring it down to the sev enteenth century. The laborers y i 1 ama Sussecr. 1. History of Agriculture in Britain during the Anglo-Saxon Dynasty, or longing to the: from the Fifth to the Eleventh Century. best cu ltivated 196. At the arrival of the Anglo-Saxons this island, according to Fleury,(History, Who possessed vol. iv. p. 97.) abounded in numerous flocks and herds, which these conquerors seized, time in cult and pastured for their own use; and after their settlement they still continued to follow Abbot of We pasturage as one of the chief means of their subsistence. This is evident from the great disposi

nnmber of laws that were made in the Anglo-Saxon times, for regulating the prices of all kiuds of tame cattle, directing the manner in which they were to be pastured, and for pies oue them from thieves, robbers, and beasts of prey.(Wilkins, Leges Saxon, passim.)

197. The Welsh in this period, from the nature of their country, and other circumstances, depended still more on their flocks and herds for their support; hence their laws res- pecting pasturage were more numerous and minute than those of the Saxons.(Leges ws Wallice, passim.) From these laws we learn, among many other particulars, which need not be mentioned, that all the cattle of a village, though belonging to different owners, were pastured together in one herd, under the direction of one person(with proper assistants); whose oath, in all disputes about the cattle under his care, was decisive.

198. By one of these laws, they were prohibited to plough with horses, mares, or cows, but only with oxen.(Leges I}"allice. p- 288.) Their ploughs seem to have been very slight and inartificial; for it was enacted, that no man should undertake to guide a plough who could not make one; and that the driver should make the ropes of twisted willows, with which it was drawn.(Jd. p. 283.) But slight as these ploughs were, it was usual for six or eight persons to form themselves into a society for fitting out one of them, and providing it with oxen, and every thing necessary for ploughing; and

many minute and curious laws were made for the regulation of such societies,‘This is it

a sufficient proof both of the poverty of the husbandmen, and of the imperfect state of}

agriculture among the ancient Britons in this period.; 199. Certain privileges were allowed to any person who laid dung on a field, cut down

a wood, or folded his cattle on another’s land for a year. Such was the state of agri-

culture during this period in Wales; it was probably in a still more imperfect state

among the Scots and Picts, but of this we have no means of ascertaining.