883 



YOUNG, ARTHUR. 



YOUNG, ARTHUR. 



884 



incut. By moons of his publications distant parts of the country 

 became acquainted with practices which were entirely unknown beyond 

 the small circle in which they had been gradually adopted. Even the 

 failures, occasioned by adopting systems and rotations not suited to 

 every soil, gave useful lessons, and pointed out the principles on 

 which the most advantageous systems for different soils were founded. 

 Wherever Young met with the cultivation of any peculiar plant, 

 whether for the use of man or beast, and observed more than ordinary 

 luxuriance in its growth, he became an enthusiastic admirer of it, and 

 recommended it for trial to agriculturists. Of these lucerne was justly 

 a great favourite, and he recommended its cultivation on every oppor- 

 tunity. Another plant which drew his attention was wild chicory 

 (Cichorium intybus), the feeding qualities of which he much exagge- 

 rated, thinking it so important, that in the questions sent round by 

 the Board of Agriculture, when he was secretary, in order, to ascertain 

 the state of agriculture in all parts of the kingdom, one of the 

 questions was, "Do you sow chicory?" whereas this plant had only 

 been tried by a few individuals, and soon lost its momentary reputa- 

 tion. We mention this circumstance to show how warmly he took up 

 any apparent Improvement and endeavoured to promote its general 

 adoption. This zeal in the cause gave a charm to his works, which 

 were written in a lively and even imaginative style, on a subject 

 where before nothing was met with but dry details. In 1771 he pub- 

 lished that useful and well-known work entitled 'The Farmer's 

 Calendar,' which has gone through innumerable editions, and is still a 

 standard agricultural work. At the same time, as if to show the ver- 

 satility of his genius, he published 'Political Essays on the present 

 State of the British Empire,' and ' Observations on the present State of 

 Waste Lands.' In order to increase his income, which, notwithstand- 

 ing the profits of his publications, did not suffice for his expenses and 

 experiments, he had become a parliamentary reporter for the 'Morning 

 Post,' in which arduous task he was engaged for several years, much to 

 the detriment of his farming operations, which he could only occa- 

 sionally superintend. 



In 1774 he published 'Political Arithmetic,' which work was soon 

 translated into several foreign languages. In 1775 and 1776 he made 

 his tour through Ireland, one of those which greatly increased his 

 knowledge, if not of the perfections of farming, certainly of its most 

 glaring defects in that fertile country. His decided disapprobation of 

 the bounty then paid by the government on the land-carriage of corn 

 to Dublin drew the serious attention of the ruling powers to this 

 subject. In the next session of parliament this bounty was reduced 

 one-half, and soon after entirely abolished. For this essential service 

 to the prosperity of Ireland, Mr. Yonng only received the cold thanks 

 of the Dublin Society. He warmly supported the claims of the 

 Roman Catholics to the removal of every political disability owing to 

 difference of religion, showing that the penal laws then in force were 

 laws against the industry of the country. 



In 1777 Mr. Young received a medal from the Salford Agricultural 

 Society, inscribed " For his Services to the Public." After this he 

 undertook the management of the estates of Lord Kingsbury at 

 Micheltown, in the county of Cork, where he resided for two years in 

 a house built on purpose for him. In 1779 he returned to his mother 

 at Bradfield : it was then that he had the project of emigrating to 

 America, which he relinquished in consequence of the objections of his 

 mother. He therefore betook himself with renewed zeal to the prac- 

 tice of husbandry, ploughing with his own hands; while his head was 

 occupied in scientific pursuits, analysing soils, and making numerous 

 experiments, for which he obtained the gold medal of the Society of 

 Arts. In 1782 he entered into a warm controversy with Mr. Capel 

 Loft upon the expediency of the county of Suffolk presenting the 

 government with a 74-gun ship. This was carried on some time in 

 the ' Bury Post,' and drew the attention of the public to that paper. 



The fame of Arthur Young had now spread far and wide, and 

 reached even the frozen regions of the North. The Empress Catherine 

 of Russia sent three young Russians to be instructed by him in agricul- 

 ture, and in the following year sent him a magnificent golden snuff- 

 box, and two rich ermine cloaks for his wife and daughter. 



In 1784 he began the publication of his 'Annals of Agriculture,' 

 which he continued till the work extended to 45 vols. 8vo, containing 

 a great fund of agricultural information. In this work all the contri- 

 butions have the names of their authors annexed, which adds much 

 to its authority, even King George III. condescending to send Mr. 

 Young an account of the farm of Mr. Ducket, at Petersham, under the 

 signature of Ralph Robinson. Among other important communica- 

 tions may be noticed the ' Letters on the present state of Agriculture 

 in Italy,' by Dr. Symonds, then Professor of Modern History in the 

 University of Cambridge. In 1785 Mr. Young's mother died; he 

 always entertained the warmest affection for her, and in several 

 instances, as we have seen, gave up favourite schemes in deference to 

 her wishes. 



In the spring of 1787 he received a pressing invitation to visit 

 France, and to accompany the Comte de la Rochefoucauld to the 

 Pyrenees, which he accepted with joy, and returned to England in the 

 following winter. At this time a discussion took place about the 

 Wool Bill, and the farmers of Suffolk deputed Mr. Young to support a 

 petition against it. He was joined in this affair by Sir Joseph Banks, 

 who was deputed from Lincolnshire for the same purpose. They did 



not however meet with complete success, but they caused some of the 

 most obnoxious clauses of the bill to be modified. The manufacturers, 

 for whose advantage it had been brought in, burned Arthur Young in 

 effigy at Norwich for his opposition to their interest, while he v.as 

 complimented by the landed proprietors and farmers. Thomas Day, 

 Esq., the author of a well-known little work called 'Sandford and 

 Morton,' addressed a pamphlet to Mr. Young, which was highly com- 

 plimentary to his exertions. 



The next summer he travelled on horseback through a great part of 

 France, and composed his 'Agricultural Survey' of that country, 

 which the French agricultural writers acknowledge to have opened 

 their eyes to the imperfections of their systems of husbandry. He did 

 not however publish it till he had made a third tour through that 

 extensive kingdom. During the interval of the last two tours he was 

 occupied in introducing the collecting of grass seeds by hand, for the 

 purpose of producing artificial meadows, and, among many other use- 

 ful grasses, introduced the cocksfoot (Dactylus glomeratus) and the 

 crested dog-tailed grass (Cynosurus cristatus). The style of this French 

 tour is lively, and his descriptions amusing as well as interesting : the 

 remarks on the condition of the people and on political subjects the 

 tour being made so short a time before the outbreak of the French 

 revolution are also both interesting and valuable. 



About this time he entered into a correspondence with General 

 Washington, which was afterwards published in a pamphlet. Another 

 circumstance on which he dwelt with pride aud complacency, was a 

 present he received from the king of a Merino ram. In 1793 he pub- 

 lished a pamphlet, which met with great success, entitled ' The 

 Example of France a Warning to Britain.' He received the thanks of 

 several patriotic associations, while the opposite party accused him of 

 apostacy, as he had hitherto been rather inclined to favour the liberal 

 party and approve of the French revolution, but the horrors which it 

 brought forth entirely disgusted him. In this pamphlet Mr. Young 

 first recommended a horse militia, which afterwards was established 

 under the name of the yeomanry cavalry, and in which he himself 

 served as a private in the ranks, under Lord Broome, afterwards 

 Marquis Cornwallis. 



In order to put into practice his various schemes for the improvement 

 of waste lands, he purchased 4400 acres of uncultivated land in York- 

 shire ; but luckily for his purse, which would probably have suffered 

 much in the experiment, the Board of Agriculture was established, 

 and the office of secretary was offered to him. This was exactly 

 suited to his taste and activity, and the salary of 4.001. per annum, 

 with a house rent-free, made the situation desirable on the score of 

 income. 



A great compliment was paid to Arthur Young, in 1801, by the 

 French Directory, who ordered all his agricultural works to be trans- 

 lated and published at Paris, in 20 vols. 8vo., under the title of ' Le 

 Cultivateur Anglais;' and in the same year M. Du Pradt dedicated to 

 him his work called ' De 1'Etat de la Culture en France.' 



At the desire of the Board of Agriculture he drew up the County 

 Reports, beginning with that of Suffolk, to which were added, in suc- 

 cession, Lincoln, Norfolk, Hertford, Essex, and Oxford. In 1795 he 

 published two political pamphlets, entitled ' The Constitution safe 

 without Reform,' and ' An Idea of the present State of France.' 



The death of his daughter, which took place in 1797, of a decline, 

 had a great influence on Mr. Young's mind. He began to turn his 

 attention to religious subjects, which in the bustle of bis secular 

 occupations had not occupied much of his thoughts before. He 

 began now to read and examine, and to satisfy himself as to the most 

 important tenets of religion. This did not prevent his other pursuits, 

 and in 1798 he published a letter to Mr. Wilberforce, ' On the State of 

 the Public Mind,' and, in 1800, a pamphlet 'On the Question of 

 Scarcity.' In 1804 the Bath and West of England Society adjudged 

 their Bedfordian medal to him for an essay ' On the Nature and Pro- 

 perties of Manures.' In the same year he received the present of a 

 snuff-box from Count Rostopchin, governor of Moscow, which was 

 turned by himself out of a block of oak, and richly studded with 

 diamonds, with the motto in Russian, ' From a Pupil to his Master.' 

 Over the motto were three cornucopias in burnished gold, forming the 

 cipher A. Y. 



In 1805, at the request of the Russian Ambassador, Mr. Young sent 

 his son to Russia, to make a survey of the government of Moscow, and 

 draw up a report, for which he was liberally remunerated ; and with 

 the sum he received he purchased an estate of 10,000 acres of very 

 rich land in the Crimea, and settled there. 



In 1808 Mr. Young received a gold medal from the Board of Agri- 

 culture " for long and faithful services in agriculture," soon after 

 which his exertions were much checked by the loss of his sight. No 

 longer able to take his usual exercise, his digestion became impaired, 

 which no doubt led to the disease which terminated his useful earthly 

 career. His disease was not suspected till about a week before his 

 death. He had always had a great dread of blindness, and of the 

 stone in the bladder : the latter was the cause of his death, but he 

 never was aware of it, and by the care of his medical attendants his 

 sufferings were alleviated, .and he was spared those acute pains of 

 which he had such a dread. He died on the 12th April 1820, in the 

 eightieth year of his age. He was buried at Bradfield, in a vault in 

 the churchyard. 



