Jntliro Tall : his Life, Times, and Teacldncji 33 
OUrs; and so judged and so measured, the overtopping mental 
stature of Tail stands out grandly when projected on that distant 
and little-worked-upon background. 
Tail's was essentially a fact-finding disposition ; he had the 
true instincts of a man of science. "Truth," he said, "is like gold, 
the more tried the brighter — experiment for yourself." Again, 
and the phrase bears repetition, " in agriculture, that is, in 
science, every man should be a freethinker. Water when it runs 
off soon is beneficial ; where it remains it is injurious." " It is 
a vulgar error that the winter rains do not enrich the earth." 
TuU writes of " water carrying down some impregnated earth," 
and of " strong land that is tenacious of such impregnated 
particles." His entire theory on the province of water as an in- 
strument or vehicle in vegetable nutrition is most suggestive. He 
was acquainted with the I'ain-gauge and greatly interested in the 
records of rainfall. He worked with his microscope, but the in- 
strument, he says, was a bad one, particularly in examining water 
in the roots of plants, and, to his apparent surj^rise, he found the 
water clear and limpid. 
TuU appears to have been greatly exercised in i-egard to this 
proposition : "It is the vessels of plants that make the different 
flavours, the flavours are not in the earth until it has entered 
and been altered by the vegetable vessels." 
Before proceeding further to consider TuU's science, it is only 
fair to cite his own words in regard to manure ; he fully recog- 
nised that dung was a serious obstacle to clean farming, as it 
conveyed the seeds of weeds. He says : " The vulgar in general 
believe that I carried my farm-yard dung and threw it in a river. 
I have no river near ; besides, my neighbours buy dung at a good 
price ; but it is known I neither sell nor waste any dung. 
Against such lying tongues there is no defence." ' 
The greater part of the MS. before referred to of Mr. Cuth- 
bert Johnson, F.R.S., consists of a review and criticism of the 
book of Tullian husbandry. The MS. probably contains to his 
day — that was thirty years ago — the best estimate of TuU's 
scientific knowledge. As limitations of space forbid a transcript, 
it may be useful here just to glean a little from the pages of 
this competent, able, and painstaking writer. " Pulverise the 
soil, and prevent exhaustion by weeds, is the essential Tullian 
principle. TuU says horse-hoeing keeps plants moist in dry 
weather, counteracting the bad effects of drought by pulverisation, 
and adds, ' dews are the richest present that the atmosphere 
gives to the earth.' He knew sulphur and nitre exist in the 
' Addenda to JJorse-hoeinf/, 
VOL. II, T. S — 5 
D 
