226 BOARD OF AGBICULTUEE. 



author to a place among the benefactors of his race. From 

 his writings we learn that marl was not only in common use 

 on the island in his day, but was found to have been in use 

 when Britain was invaded by the Romans before the Chris- 

 tian era. 



Other writings by different authors appeared from time to 

 time. One work, entitled " Five Hundred Points of Good 

 Husbandry," by Thomas Tusser, appeared in doggerel verse 

 about the middle of the sixteenth century. These volumes 

 were handed down from one genoration to another, till they 

 were literally worn out; so that when, in later days, it was 

 sought to issue a new edition, it was difficult to find in one 

 copy the entire work, giving, as was said at the time, "a 

 proof that what was intended for practical use had been sed- 

 ulously applied to that purpose." Through Tusser we learn 

 that cabbages, turnips and carrots had just been brought to 

 notice as table vegetables. 



Closely following Tusser's publications appeared a work 

 which, in our gropings after light, seems by its title to savor 

 a little of conceit, <'The Whole Art of Husbandry," by 

 Barnaby Googe. "The Jewel House of Art and Nature," 

 by Sir Hugh Piatt, gave the first account we have of the 

 introduction of white clover into England. 



Early in the 18th century there came to the front a man 

 whose writings and experiments are justly accredited as 

 " among the first important attempts at real progress in the 

 agriculture of modern times." Jethro Tull ventured upon 

 new methods, and sought to understand the principlps of 

 agriculture. Without that knowledge of geology and chem- 

 istry within our reach, he made some mistakes for others to 

 profit by ; but his inquiries and experiments were in the 

 right direction. He invented the horse-hoe and the thresh- 

 ing-machine, and introduced into England from the conti- 

 nent the drill system of cultivation with the drilling-machine, 

 to relieve hand labor. Tull advocated the use of manures, 

 but considered their chief advantage to be mechanical, not 

 realizing that they furnish essential plant food. His theory 

 was that plants are nourished from minute particles of soil ; 

 hence he advocated frequent and thorough cultivation, that 

 the soil might be completely pulverized. It was this theory, 



