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Hans Kaspar Hirzel was born in 1725; after studying in Leiden and after a fairly long stay in Potsdam and Berlin he returned to Zürich and became the city doctor in 1751. From 1763 to the Revolution he held office in the city government and also in the rural canton surrounding it. He was a disciple of Bodmer (see below) and in 1762 became the founder of the Helvetic Society. He is chiefly remembered for his work on the improvement of methods in agriculture.

As part of his contribution to this he published in 1761 his best known work: "Die Wirtschaft eines philosophischen Bauers" [The economy of a scientific farmer], which was widely read and translated. In 1770 it was translated into English, but from a French edition, by the agricultural reformer Arthur Young, as an appendix to his "Rural economy, or, Essays on the practical parts of husbandry". From the preface it is clear that the book was designed to raise the status of agriculture as a science, and also of rural life in general. "The country is the proper school for acquiring a more intimate knowledge of human nature; for forming just ideas of happiness, and for discerning what constitutes the true greatness of man" [p 387]. For this purpose he does not invent an ideal farmer, but describes in detail the operation of a real enterprise.

Jakob Gujer, (1716-1785) is known as "Kleinjögg" [James Minor] to distinguish him from an older brother. He farms about ninety-four acres (which includes some woodland) at Wermatsweyl near Uster, along with his brother Felix. They are obliged for the time being to employ hired labourers, because although the two families have eleven children between them, only one of these children is old enough to be of significant help with the work. Almost all the information on farming methods is given as being of Gujer's own devising, though occasionally Hirzel makes suggestions, such as telling him that it would be a good idea to have one of his sons taught bookkeeping. Like Bräker, Gujer came to the notice of more learned people by writing an essay for a competition set by the Physical Society.

Probably as part of the purpose of raising farmers in the estimation of townspeople, quite a large part of the book is devoted to describing Gujer's character and family life. He tries to keep his children with him as much as possible, helping him in his work and being kept from bad company. The brothers go to church on alternate Sundays - elsewhere he mentions that they have only one best coat between them, "coarse grey with steel clasps". The brother not at church teaches the children at home. "I endeavour", says Gujer, "to inspire my children with an inclination for rational pleasures" [p 448]. They are allowed games and dancing, but only at home. He is quoted as saying [p 469] that honest work does more for the soul's salvation and the mind's peace than the teachings of the Herrenhuter or the followers of Zinzendorf - the Pietists and the Inspired People. His economy included not allowing his children any presents on their birthdays or at New Year, nor providing extra food or drink for his labourers on Sundays and feast-days. (This latter brought down on him even at the time accusations of "unparalleled severity".) He certainly carried his work ethic to an extreme by making his younger children eat their meals on the floor, only when they were old enough to be "of some use in husbandry" were they allowed to sit at table. Hirzel extols the character of this tyrannical old skinflint at considerable length, praising his wisdom and virtue, also his wit, modesty and ability to hold his own in conversation with people of higher social rank.

Bräker would have felt some sympathy with these aims, and would have warmed to Gujer on learning that at the time of low prices for corn in the early 1760s, he did not hoard his crop in the hope of obtaining a higher price later. It is quite possible that he would have admired Gujer's methods of child-rearing, and Salome Bräker probably would have done, though both would have based their discipline on religion and harsh necessity rather than morality and the profit motive. Neither of them appears to have attempted to put Gujer's methods into practice.

Bräker and Hirzel knew of each other's writings and so were in a sense acquainted when they first met in 1782. Bräker had read Kleinjögg's story in 1774, and Hirzel had read and admired some of Bräker's dialogues. It seems perhaps a little odd that they did not have more to say to each other, but Hirzel was no doubt a very busy man. I think Füssli's addition sounds a little

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