New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1895-11-10
Ill.
PROGRESS IN FARMING.

In agriculture England began the Stuart era
with a gradual increase in the amount OK iahd
incosed. Large estates were becoming compare
lively numerous. The flow OF gold and silver INTO
the country from the New World had raised the
prices of things grown on the farm. More acres
were ploughed and the great land-holders dis
played their prosperity in the grand houses built
for them. Tenant farmers and yeoHan free
holders" adds Mr.. Prothero, in discussing agr-
culture. under the Stuarts. were growing rich
Only the agricultural laborer still suffered HIS
wages remained stationary, while the necessares
Of life grew dearer. He was more secure or en-
ployment. and in that way only was his lou
changed for the better" The fact was that the
peasant had in many cases new master, one
who aimed to make the most out of his lands
His efforts were seconded by growing litera-
ture, which had been almost unknown hitherto
devoted wholly to agriculture Books were writ
ten on the care Of animals on irrigation on
orchards and gardens, on drainage. and the last
in relation to the Fens. urged as national
undertaking. 1t was met however by the violent
opposition Of the marshmen. For generations the
war between those who tried to reclaim the Fens
and those who wished them left they were
RACED and when 1t ceased. after 1714. "the vast
swamps and wet marshes of the Fen district
were restored 10 the ague-stricken inhabitants in
their primitive unproductiveness" The sugges-
lions OF writers were on the whole, however. ad-
dressed to willing minds. Experiments were made
with new plants. Even Cromwell. who Is usually
thought Of only as soldier and statesman, was
an enthusiastic experimental farmer. 1t cannot
be- said, however, that all farmers. even the
majority Of them, were ready for Improvements
They preferred to ridcule the writer's who sus-
gested new ideas. They hal some Justification
for the literary farmer often who had
failed In practice Far back in the seventeenth
century clover was grown as an experiment But
as late as the time OF George III IL still re-
jected by tenant farmers as Improbable. 1t was
the same with other plants now prosaically COM
mon. 1T may safely be said" remarks Mr.. Pro-
there. that clover and turnps did not become
general in England till the latter half OF the
eighteenth century and that potatoes owed their
almost universal introduction to the efforts Of
the Board Of Agriculture during the Napoleonic
ware"
Perhaps the most significant marks Of progress
were made In the field Of science Yet the prog
ress from the beginning to the end OF the seven
teenth century was more noteworthy from mega
tive than from positive facts. The close Of the
dynasty Is marked by the great discoveries Of
Newton but Its earlier years were made famous
by the not less important invention OF logarithms
by Napier and by Harveys discovery Of the circu-
lation of the blood The real advance was in the
minds of the people at large. In the first quar-
ter Of the century many of the gentry refused to
allow their sons to study mathematics for ex-
acty the reason refuted by Roger Bacon 400
years earlier, namely. that 1t belonged to the
black art. complete review OF the state Of the
realm In the times of James I and his re-
ouires, as this volume shows considerable sec
ton on magic and alchemy. But later these pre-
tended sciences fell into neglect. Their disap-
pearance was followed slowly by that OF the
trologers and quack DOCTORS whose performances
were the object Of Swifts satire In The Taller"
and the gradual advance Of the legitimate prac-
t!ce OF medicine. Here again progress was in the
minds OF the people rather than in that Of the
great scientists. While Harvey belonged TO the
first part of the century practical books on medi-
cine were few In English until after his time
The really scientific physicians were not few even
in the first Stuart times. and they were. says c.
Creighton. the equals In learning OF the Italians
French and Germans whose names have de-
scended with their writings to modern times. But
their credit depended then. and for some time
longer. upon the mystery With which they sur
rounded their prescriptions They were in fact
the victims Of the popular fondness for quackery.
After the Restoration the change In this respect