72 BRITISH HUSBANDRY. [Ch.VI. 



the sowing of grain in rows has been practised for ages ; and in Spain, an 

 instrument, called the se?7ibrador, was invented about the year 1650, for 

 the purposes of drilling. Our field-culture was indeed, at that time, nearly 

 confined to the production of corn, for root-crops were rarely grown ex- 

 cept in gardens ; and although the planting of such crops in drills must 

 have been well understood by gardeners, yet it did not attract the attention 

 of farmers until the commencement of the last century, when the celebrated 

 Jethro Tull, of Berkshire, began his experiments on drilling grain, an ac- 

 count of which he published in 1731. 



Like all enthusiasts, Tull was apt to be deceived by theoretic notions, 

 which failed in practice, and the principle on which he acted was, therefore, 

 for a long time, viewed with distrust. His system supposes " that land 

 adapted for the production of any particular species of grain might always 

 be sown with the same grain, without manure;'' for it assumes "the use of 

 dung to consist chiefly in dissolving the terrestrial matter which affords 

 nutriment to the mouths of vegetable plants," and this he contended could 

 be more effectually done by the sole means of tillage. He, therefore, 

 deemed it necessary not only to repeatedly plough the land intended for the 

 production of a crop, but, in order to secure its perfect pulverization and 

 cleanness, he introduced the plan of sowing the seed in drills, which were 

 kept clear of weeds by the operation of the horse-hoe ; and had he confined 

 his improvement to that practical object, without speculating upon the 

 theory regarding the food of plants, he would have deservedly acquired a 

 high rank among the friends of agriculture. Conceiving, however, that 

 the earth was of itself sufficient to bring the roots to perfection, and that 

 the same species might be annually sown upon the same land, he proceeded 

 upon the plan of sowing the seed at wide distances, and the following sea- 

 son again sowing the interval which had been previously left unoccupied 

 between the drills ; thus cropping the ground every successive year in alter- 

 nate spaces. 



In the culture of wheat, he began with ridges six feet broad ; but after 

 trying various numbers of rows upon the ridge, he at length determined 

 upon two, with an intervening space of ten inches, also reducing the ridge 

 to four feet and a half; and he only allowed three pecks of seed to the 

 acre. The first hoeing was performed by turning a furrow from the drill, 

 soon after the plant had shot forth in the beginning of winter ; the second 

 was in spring, by which the earth was returned to the roots ; and those 

 which followed were governed by the condition of the land and the state of 

 the weather. Thus, he observes, " my field, whereon is now the thir- 

 teenth crop of wheat, has shown that the rows may successfully stand 

 upon any part of the ground. The ridges of this field were, for the 

 twelfth crop, changed from six feet to four feet six inches. In order for 

 this alteration, the ridges were ploughed down, and then the next ridges 

 were laid out the same way as the former, but one foot six inches narrower, 

 and the double rows drilled on their tops ; whereby, of consequence, there 

 must be some rows standing on every part of the ground, both on llie for- 

 mer partitions, and on every part of the intervals. Notwithstanding this, 

 there was no manner of difference in the goodness of the rows, and the 

 whole field was in every part of it equal, and the best, I believe, that ever 

 grew on it*.'' 



In the cultivation of turnips, his practice was more correct, and differs 

 but little from the present management, except that the seed was mixed 

 " half new and half old," and deposited at different depths, in order to se- 



* Horse-hoeing Husbandry, p. 424. 



