Page:History of the German people at the close of the Middle Ages vol1.djvu/354

342 HISTORY OF THE GERMAN PEOPLE but towards the middle of the sixteenth century it was almost entirely abandoned. 1 In the last decades of the fifteenth century an agri- cultural literature began to be formed, and the many editions into which these works ran are proof of the interest taken in the question, particularly by the people of the cities. Eleven different editions in Latin and German of the Bolognese senator's (Petrus of Cre- centus) famous work on agriculture appeared between the years 1470 and 1494 in Louvain, Augsburg, Stras- burg, Mentz, and elsewhere; those brought out in Strasburg and Mentz were beautifully illustrated by wood-engravings. ' The Book of Nature,' for which a very learned man collected material during fifteen years, had also an extensive sale. The first edition bears no date or place of publication ; the following- ones appeared in 1475, 1478, and 1481, and were pub- lished by Hans Bamler of Augsburg ; still later ones by Hans Schonperger in 1482 and by Antonius in 1499. The book comprises strange essays on human nature, animals, trees, vegetables, stones, and metals, and the object which the writer sets before him is ' the treat- ment of very useful and interesting subjects, of which the reader may learn some useful facts.' However, besides some rather strange things, it contains some valuable information on the subjects of forestry and bee culture. A Westphalian publisher in Louvain brought out Columella's work on gardening, and Cuspanian added 1 Bee culture was of much greater importance then than now becaiise- of the quantity of wax used in the churches, and because honey was used where we now use sugar. (Abhandlung ilber Bienenrecht des MittehiJ- ters, p. 47, Nordlingen, 18G5. Bee also Busch, Handbuch des geltendcu Bienenrecht s, p. 14.)