o / 



JgricuUure. 



circumstances have hitherto conspired eithef to 

 weaken these exertions, or render them, in a great 

 measure, ineffectual. The comn>ercial spirit of 

 Holland has long driven from her view every ge- 

 neral plan of agricultural enterprise, and several 

 of the other nations which were mentioned, fixed 

 in inactivity, under the congealing influence of 

 ignorance and slavery, are equally unacquainted 

 with, and indifferent to the most important and 

 indispensable foundations of public prosperity. 



Among the memorable events in the annals of 

 agriculture, pertaining to the eighteenth century, 

 may be mentioned the mode of tillage invented 

 and proposed about the year 1760, by Mr. Jethro 

 TuLL, of Oxfordshire, in England, and usually 

 denominated the Horse-Hoeing and Drill Hus- 

 bandry. The objects of his plan are, to turn up, 

 break and pulverize the soil more deeply and 

 thoroughly than by the usual means before em- 

 ployed, and to deposit the grain in the earth in 

 such regular rows as to admit of the horse-hoeing 

 cultivation being applied to it in the course of its 

 growth. The introduction of Tull's system is 

 considered as forming a grand era in agriculture, 

 not only on account of its own intrinsic utility, but 

 also because of the numerous improvements to 

 which it indirectly led. 



Essential service has been rendered to agricul- 

 ture by the inquiries of modern philosophers into 

 the Physiologij of Vegetables. These inquiries 

 have led to new and important conclusions, re- 

 specting the food of plants, and the best means of 

 promoting vegetation. On this subject much 

 valuable information has been communicated to 

 the public by Hales, Hill, Walker, and Dar- 

 win, of Great-Britain; by Du Hamel, Des Fon- 

 taines, Broussonet, and Hassenfratz, of France j 

 by Ingenkonz, Van Humboldt^ and Jacquin^ 



