THE HISTORY OF DRY-FARMING 379 



ture which, viewed in the Hght of our modern knowl- 

 edge, is Uttle short of marvelous. The chief inspira- 

 tion of his system came from a visit paid to south 

 of France, where he observed "near Frontignan and 

 Setts, Languedoc" that the vineyards were carefully 

 plowed and tilled in order to produce the largest 

 crops of the best grapes. Upon the basis of this 

 observation he instituted experiments upon his own 

 farm and finally develojaed his system, which may be 

 summarized as follows: The amount of seed to be 

 used should be proportional to the condition of the 

 land, especially to the moisture that is in it. To 

 make the germination certain, the seed should be 

 sown by drill methods. TuU, as has already been 

 observed, was the inventor of the seed drill which 

 is now a feature of all modern agriculture. Plow- 

 ing should be done deeply and frequently; two 

 plowings for one crop would do no injury and fre- 

 quently would result in an increased yield. Finally, 

 as the most important principle of the system, the 

 soil should be cultivated continually, the argument 

 being that by continuous cultivation the fertility 

 of the soil would be increased, the water would 

 be conserved, and as the soil became more fertile 

 less water would be used. To accomplish such culti- 

 vation, all crops should be placed in rows rather far 

 apart, so far indeed that a horse carrying a culti- 

 vator could walk between them. The horse-hoeing 

 idea of the system became fundamental and gave 



