I'ROGRESSiVE AGRICULTURE. 227 



also, which led him to adopt the drill system in the cultiva- 

 tion of grain, which admits of stirring the soil among the 

 roots of the growing crop. 



TuU, like all who are in advance of their age, had few 

 immediate followers ; and some who would have been such 

 w^ere obliged to continue in the old paths for want of means 

 to procure the necessary implements, — a want which it may 

 be feared will never be entirely outgrown. The most intel- 

 ligent and most successful farmers of to-day must give this 

 man credit for wise practices, even if the theories which led 

 to them were somewhat erroneous. 



After Tull not much was published of agricultural litera- 

 ture for fifty years, but thoughtful men were at work in 

 various directions. Especial attention was paid in these 

 days to the improvement of the diiferent domestic animals 

 by selection and crossing, and thus bringing blessings to 

 future generations. 



Prominent in his day, and deserving of lasting gratitude, 

 was Arthur Young; for it is said that "to him, perhaps, 

 the world is more indebted for the spread of agricultural 

 knowledge than to any other man." He was born in 1741, 

 and died in 1820. He sought by experiment and inquiry to 

 learn the actual cause of the fertility of soil. Hitherto, 

 ammonia had been thought harmful to vegetation ! and the 

 wise had insisted that plant food was to be found in acids. 

 Young's experiments with ammonia were always crowned 

 with success. 

 . He must have been what in our day is called an enthusi- 

 ast, for he travelled through England, Ireland and portions 

 of the continent seeking light on this all-absorbing subject, 

 and published half a dozen or more works on agriculture. 

 In 1784 he established the periodical, "Annals of Agricul- 

 ture," to which George III. contributed under the name of 

 Ralph Robinson. 



It is here that Young, just a hundred years ago (in 1786), 

 says : " To imagine that we are ever to see agriculture rest 

 on a scientific basis, regulated by just and accurately drawn 

 principles, without the chemical qualities of soils and ma- 

 nures being well understood, is a childish and ignorant 

 supposition." 



