Jethro Tail: Ms Life, Times, and TeacJnng. 
3 
* Drill Husbandry ' banditti, who in their turn have so plundered 
one another, until no one of them, perhaps, could guess who was 
the original thief." 
Yet another writer, author of the two gems of agricultural 
literature, brings this true agricultural succession down to our 
own day and generation. His charm of manner, his many 
accomplishments, have left a deep and lasting impression in the 
hearts of some still living friends and colleagues. The author 
of the History of Acjriculture ' and of Talpa refers to the sadly 
interesting life of Tull, and goes on to say that " he was the 
greatest individual improver that agriculture ever knew. . . . 
There was, before the dawn of chemical and geological science, 
ingenuity and originality of thought groping in utter darkness 
of guesswork and speculation. Tull best answers the question, 
What can chemistry do for agriculture ? So far as he was un- 
knowingly in accord with chemical truth' he was right ; as he 
deserted it he was wrong. Deep and perfect pulverisation is the 
great secret of vegetable nutrition : in regard to that beautiful 
mystery, Tull distinguished the form without seeing the face." 
The spirit of individual enterprise was incarnate in Tull. 
His life exhibits all the conditions of a great and original 
discoverer — there is much in his history to remind the student 
of James Watt. By his original idea Tull was pursued rather 
than pursuing ; his very errors and excesses are nearly as in- 
structive as his successful experiments. In him, there was a 
rare combination of two faculties, perception and reflection ; the 
flash of his common-sense genius was beautiful in its simplicity. 
Great and prolific ideas are usually simple. With liim the 
inventive faculty was a passion, an instinct ; an observer, a 
finder-out, his eyes were as spy-glasses, observing soil, culture, 
vegetable productions, methods, implements, everything; he had 
the quick perception wliich sees and foresees the effects of various 
combinations, as well as insight, dexterity, patience, persever- 
ance, faith, and, after a fall, the dauntless determination that im- 
parts the conviction, "I shall rise again." Tull's practical nature 
is well demonstrated in his own words : " Writing and ploughing 
are two different talents ; and he that writes well must have 
spent in his study that time which is necessary to be spent in the 
fields by him who will be master of the art of cultivating them." 
Tull was also an excellent mechanic, a musician, and a clas- 
sical scholar of no inconsiderable attainments. He was, however, 
unhappily, a valetudinarian ; his whole life was one long struggle 
with chronic disease. But these fearfully depressing influences 
' Wren-Hoskyns. 
