DRY-FARMING 



the south of Europe, it was customary 

 for the peasant to till the rows between 

 the grape-vines. This practice attracted 

 the attention of the English traveler, who 

 on his return began to carry out the same 

 system on his own estate; and as a result 

 of his studies and experiments^ he pub- 

 lished his agricultural classic in the year 

 1731. TulFs idea which was that by 

 tillage soils might be constantly and 

 forever re-invigorated or renewed is 

 summed up in his famous epigram "Til- 

 lage is Manure." He believed that the 

 earth was the true and the sole food of 

 the plant; and, further, that the plant 

 feeds and grows by taking in minute par- 

 ticles of soil. And since these particles 

 are thrown off from the surface of the 

 soil grains, it followed, therefore, that the 

 more finely the soil was divided the more 

 numerous the particles and the more 

 readily the plant would grow. Although 

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