yle:--"I haue thought it meet (good Reader) for thy further profit &
pleasure, to put into English these foure Bookes of Husbandry, collected
& set forth by Master Conrade Heresbatch, a great & a learned Counceller
of the Duke of Cleues: not thinking it reason, though I haue altered &
increased his worke, _with mine owne readings & obseruations_, joined
with the experience of sundry my friends, to take from him (as diuers in
the like case haue done) the honour & glory of his owne trauaile:
Neither is it my minde, that this either his doings or mine, should
deface, or any waves darken the good enterprise, or painfull trauailes
of such our countrymen, of England, as haue plentifully written of this
matter: but always haue, & do giue them the reuerence & honour due to so
vertuous, & well disposed Gentlemen, namely, _Master Fitz herbert_, &
_Master Tusser_: whose workes may, in my fancie, without any
presumption, compare with any, either _Varro_, _Columella_, or
_Palladius_ of _Rome_."

The work is written in the form of a dialogue, the parties being Cono, a
country-gentleman, Metella, his wife, Rigo, a courtier, and Hermes, a
servant. The first book relates to tillage, and farm-practice in
general; the second, to orcharding, gardens, and woods; the third, to
cattle; and the fourth, to fowl, fish, and bees. He had evidently been
an attentive reader of the older authors I have discussed, and his
citations from them are abundant. He had also opportunity for every-day
observation in a region which, besides being one of the most fertile,
was probably at that time the most highly cultivated in Europe; and his
work may be regarded as the most important contribution to agricultural
literature since the days of Crescenzi. He reaffirms, indeed, many of
the old fables of the Latinists,--respects the force of proper
incantations, has abiding faith in "the moon being aloft" in time of
sowing, and insists that the medlar can be grafted on the pine, and the
cherry upon the fir. Rue, he tells us, "will prosper the better for
being stolen"; and "If you breake to powder the horne of a Ram & sowe it
watrying it well, it is thought it will come to be good Sperage"
(Asparagus). He assures us that he has grafted the pear successfully
when in full bloom; and furthermore, that he has seen apples which have
been kept sound for three years.

Upon the last page are some rules for purchasing land, which I suspect
are to be attributed to the poet of