62 ARTHUR YOUNQ AND THE DIFFUSION OF KNOWLEDGE 



yet at tlie close of tlie century none liad followed his 

 ■example. Young, in 1768, says that clover and turnips 

 were unknown in many parts of the country. Clover was 

 not sown in Northumberland before 1752, turnips did not 

 appear till eight years later. The first root crop in Cum- 

 berland was groAvn in 1 755 by Mr. Howard of Corby. Even 

 where turnips were cultivated, drill husbandry was unheard 

 of ; broadcast sowing still prevailed ; hoeing was hardly 

 practised out of the eastern counties. As to Jethro Tull, 

 Young adds, ' farmers knew not that such a man existed.' 

 In Devonshire, till nearly the end of the century, the spade 

 was of the shape known to card-players, and crops were 

 carried or ' led,' from the fields, packed in crooks arranged 

 on the backs of horses. When Davies wrote his report on 

 Wiltshire in 1811, turhips were almost unknown, though 

 sheep were the sheet-anchor of the agriculture of the 

 county. In 1812 Strickland surveyed the East Riding of 

 Yorkshire. In that year wheat had reached 122s. the 

 quarter ; but much of the land was still in open fields. 

 Irish farmers at the end of the eighteenth century still 

 used sledges, still sowed their potatoes broadcast, still 

 ' walked backwards before their teams, striking them in the 

 face when they wished them to advance,' still ' drew their 

 ploughs and harrows by their horses' tails.' ' Indignant 

 reader ' exclaimed Young, ' this is no jest of mine, but 

 cruel stubborn, barbarous truth.' Yet in 1634 an Act was 

 necessary in England ' agaynst plowynge by the taile.' 



The useful work of studying the agricultural practices 

 of Eno-land and disseminating the results of scientific ex- 

 periments was undertaken by Arthur Young. His name 

 is ignored in many works on agriculture, notably in the 

 article in the new edition of the ' Encyclopasdia Britannica.' 

 France has better appreciated his merits. In the phrase of 



