An instructional poem composed of a calendar of information and advice about the farming year, a list of points for good daily ‘huswiferie’, or the duties of the country wife, plus poems relating to household management and rural customs.

Thomas Tusser (c1524-1580) was a poet and farmer from Essex. As a youngster he was a chorister, making it to St Paul’s Cathedral and Eton. He was a musician in the court of William Paget, 1st Baron Paget of Baudesart, before settling as a farmer in Suffolk. He never remained long in one place and lived in London, Cambridge, Ipswich, Norwich and Fairstead.

He wrote ‘A Hundred Good Pointes of Husbandrie’, a long poem in rhyming couplet recording the country year, which was published in 1557. The present work is the extended version, first published in 1573.