Improvements in Farming 



cows were housed in summer, and controversy went on about 

 facts and theories. The mixture of food for winter described 

 here will compare favourably with anything used to-day. 



In agricultural education one of the most enthusiastic and 

 practical teachers was Richard Bradley, professor of botany in 



CambridgeUniversity. People 

 criticized him as a pure bota- 

 nist, but the work he did for 

 agriculture was thoroughly 

 good. In 1726 he published 

 a book on Husbandry and 

 Gardening. He seems to have 

 gone about the country urging 

 farmers to adopt arable farm- 

 ing on a larger scale, and to 

 use a full rotation instead of 

 fallow. ' Some gentlemen 

 about Salisbury', he says, 

 ' have come into my method ; 

 they have begun to turn up 

 land for corn, peas, turnips, 

 and such like.' The rotation 

 he recommended was for the 

 first year barley, for the second 

 turnips, to be eaten off by 

 cattle or sheep, for the third 

 peas, and for the fourth wheat. 

 This was on stiff soil, which should have about two inches of sharp 

 gravel or sand spread on it. This land < may at any time be laid 

 down for grass by sowing it with ryegrass and clover after it is 

 made as level as the ground will allow '. 



Jethro Tull, who was active about the same time, was more than, 

 a teacher. He was a practical farmer and inventor. His work 



Jethro Tull. From a contemporary 

 painting. 



