Life

Austen was, according to Anthony Wood

Anthony Wood

Anthony Wood or Anthony à Wood was an English antiquary.-Early life:Anthony Wood was the fourth son of Thomas Wood , BCL of Oxford, where Anthony was born...

, a native of Staffordshire

Staffordshire

Staffordshire is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes, the county is a NUTS 3 region and is one of four counties or unitary districts that comprise the "Shropshire and Staffordshire" NUTS 2 region. Part of the National Forest lies within its borders...

, and became a student at Magdalen College, Oxford

Magdalen College, Oxford

Magdalen College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. As of 2006 the college had an estimated financial endowment of £153 million. Magdalen is currently top of the Norrington Table after over half of its 2010 finalists received first-class degrees, a record...

. On 7 April 1630 he was chosen a university proctor

Proctor

Proctor, a variant of the word procurator, is a person who takes charge of, or acts for, another. The word proctor is frequently used to describe someone who oversees an exam or dormitory.The title is used in England in three principal senses:...

, and he spent the remainder of his life in Oxford, devoting most of his time to gardening and the raising of fruit-trees. In 1647 he became deputy-registrary to the visitors, and subsequently registrary in his own right.

According to Wood, Austen died in his house in the parish of St. Peter-le-Bailey, Oxford, and was buried in the church belonging thereunto, in the aisle adjoining the south side of the chancel, 26 Oct. 1676, after he had been a practiser in gardening and planting trees fifty years.

Works

According to Wood he was, in 1652, admitted into the public library to find materials for a book he was then meditating. In the following year he published 'A Treatise on Fruit-trees, showing the manner of grafting, setting, pruning, and ordering of them in all respects,' and along with it a voluminous pamphlet on the 'Spiritual Use of an Orchard.' It was in all probability to find materials for the latter book that he desired admission to the university; for in his preface to the 'Treatise on Fruit-trees' he states that he 'had set himself to the practice of this work about twenty years, endeavouring to find out things of use and profit by practice and experience that he might speak upon better and surer pounds than some others who have written on this subject.' One encouragement to publish was the success of Walter Blith

Walter Blith

Walter Blith was an English writer on husbandry and an official under the Commonwealth.-Family:Blith was baptised in Allesley, Warwickshire, as the fourth and youngest son of John Blith , yeoman, a prosperous cereal and dairy farmer, and Ann, daughter of Barnaby Holbeche of Birchley Hall, Fillongley...

's The English Improver, or, A New Survey of Husbandry, which first appeared in 1649. Blith and Austen were both active within the Calvinistic circle surrounding Samuel Hartlib

Samuel Hartlib

Samuel Hartlib was a German-British polymath. An active promoter and expert writer in many fields, he was interested in science, medicine, agriculture, politics, and education. He settled in England, where he married and died...

, whose members saw spiritual, as well as practical significant in agricultural and horticultural practice.

A second edition of the 'Treatise' with additions and improvements, appeared in 1657. Wood states that its sale was hindered by its association with the treatise on the 'Spiritual Use of an Orchard.' 'which being all divinity, and nothing therein of the practice part of gardening, many refused to buy it; but both Johnson and Watt mention editions in 1662 and 1667. The treatise on the 'Spiritual Use of an Orchard' was reprinted separately at London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 in 1847.

In 1658 Austen published 'Observations on some parts of Sir Francis Bacon's Naturall History as it concerns Fruit-trees, Fruits, and Flowers.' Possibly through some misreading of the title-page, this work has been attributed by some to a Francis Austen, and there is apparently no foundation for the statement that it was published originally in 1631 and again in 1657. According to Wood, Austen was the author of 'A Dialogue or Familiar Discourse and Conference between the Husbandman and Fruiterer in his Nurseries, Orchards, and Gardens,' published in 1676 and 1679, and containing much of the substance of his earlier treatise. Robert Watt

Robert Watt

Robert Douglas Watt, LVO, FRHSC was the first Chief Herald of Canada. He was appointed at the foundation of the Canadian Heraldic Authority, and was succeeded by Claire Boudreau in 2007....

erroneously attributes to Ralph Austen two books by John Austen. A work by a Ralph Austen appeared at London in 1676 entitled 'The Strong Man Armed;' but the fact that it was published at London, not at Oxford, and that it is entirely controversial, and contains no reference to gardening, militates against the supposition that its author was identical with the subject of the present notice.