472 Agricultural Experiment Station, Ithaca, N. Y, 



simple tillage or fining of the land as a means of increasing its 

 productivitT was first clearly set forth in 1733 by Jethro Tull, in 

 his " Xew Horse Hoeing Husbandry." The premises upon which 

 Tull founded his system are erroneous. He supposed that plant 

 roots actually take in or absorb the fine particles of the earth, 

 and. therefore, the finer and more numerous these particles are, 

 the more luxuriantly the plant will grow. His system of tillage, 

 however, was correct, and his experiments and writings have 

 had a most profound influence. If only one book of all the thou- 

 sands which have been written on agricultural and rural affairs 

 were to be preserved to future generations, I should want that 

 honor conferred upon TulFs " Horse Hoeing Husbandry." It 

 marked the beginning of the modern application of scientific 

 methods to agriculture, and promulgated a system of treatment 

 of the land which, in its essential principles, is now accepted by 

 every good farmer, and the appreciation of which must increase 

 to the end of time. These discursive remarks will, I hope, em- 

 phasize the importance which simple tillage holds in agricultural 

 practice. 



Farmers do not appreciate the importance of humus as an 

 ameliator of land. In farm lands it is usually supplied in the 

 form of green crops, stubble or sward, and barn manures. When 

 humus is absent, sandv soils become too lose and leachv and hot, 

 and clay soils bake and become lumpy. The different physical 

 chai^acteristics of our Samples I. and II. are largely due to the 

 greater amount of humus in the good soil, and yet we have seen 

 that the chemist pronounced the other soil richer in native plant 

 food. 



The writer has much of this hard, unproductive land, like 

 Sample I. What is to be done with it? To cover it with com- 

 mercial fertilizer would be of little benefit. It must first be put 

 in fit condition for the growing of crops. A crop of clover plowed 

 under would quickly improve it, but the land is newly planted to 

 orchard and he does not care to seed it down. The next recourse 

 is stable manure. Of this enough can be had to cover the hardest 

 spots. For the rest, catch or cover crops must be used. Follow-^ 



