The Husbandry of the Pei'iod. 235 



learned writer grew too pre-occupied with other avocations to 

 continue the work, which therefore came to an untimely end. 

 Finally Arthur Young bridged over the short remaining period 

 before the more modern forms of our agricultural press began 

 to put in their first appearance, by instituting, in 1784, his 

 Annals of Agriculture} 



Admirably, too, did public-spirited husbandmen comply with 

 Weston's wish, that the information known to the few might 

 become the property of the many ; with what success it will be 

 our chief effort in the next few chapters to show. The first 

 individual who responded to "Weston's call in this respect was 

 Jethro Tull. Now, at the time (1731) when TuU first published 

 his Horse-hoeing Hushandry, the prices of cereals were low, 

 the wages of labour comparatively high, and consequently the 

 purely arable farm was not regarded with any great favour 

 by the husbandmen of the day. But he had at first intended 

 his method of cultivation chiefly for corn. It was, of course, 

 utterly unsuited for the old common-field economy, in which 

 every individual was obliged to keep the " turns " of plough- 

 ing, fallowing, etc., with the other occupiers. But then this 

 relic of tribal days was moribund ; for though, as we have had 

 occasion to show, farmers at first parted with their ancient 

 common rights reluctantly, the improvements in grass seeds, 

 and the quicker profits obtained from the fold and dairy, had 

 begun so to fascinate the minds of advanced agriculturists 

 with the system of mixed ploughing and grazing that 

 numerous instances occurred where individual occupiers, too 

 impatient to wait for the slow and costly machinery of an 

 Enclosure Act, exchanged yardlands with their neighbours, 

 and fenced in their small holdings so as to protect them from 

 the depredations of cattle after Lammas-tide. 



Tull, who was one of the first ^ to advocate the introduction 

 of the turnip into the farm, had adapted his new system to 

 its tillage requirements with the greatest possible success. He 

 had also long sung the praises of clover as a good forage crop, 



* Annals of Agriculture^ vol. i., Preface. A. Yoimg, 178-4. 

 - Young calls him the very first. — Six Weeks'" Tour, p. 10, Preface. 

 A. Young;. 



