292 
Variations of the Four-course System. 
for the feeding of kine in England and foreign countries. The 
cultivation of the plant probably originated on the light sandy 
soils of Norfolk, though it made little progress until about the 
year 1730. Edward Lisle, a Hampshire landowner and agri- 
cultural improver, whose observations on husbandry were pub- 
lished by his son in 1755, mentions Mr. Pawlet, of Leicestershire, 
as growing great quantities of turnips as early as 1690. They 
were cultivated by Mr. Lisle at Crux Easton, in Hampshire, by 
!Mr. Cooper in Berkshire, and by Mr. Cheslin, a large land- 
owner, near Loughborough ; thus showing that the tumip had 
become widely distributed before the end of tbe seventeenth 
century. Viscount Townshend, of Norfolk, and Captain Pringle, 
of Coldstream-on-Tweed, share the honour of having been the 
first to introduce turnip husbandry to the British farmer, though, 
from a practical point of view, opinion is strongly in favour of 
Jethro Tull, a Bei’kshire farmer, and of Dawson, the son of a 
Scotch farmer, near Kelso, on Tweedside. To Tull is due 
the conception and practical origin of drill husbandry, whilst 
Dawson, imbued like most of his countrymen with a spirit of 
enterprise, was the first to carry Tull’s theory into practice by 
yoking two horses abi’east, and forming the land into ridges 
where the dung was spread, and covered by reversing the opera- 
tion. Dawson, however, shared the fate of many other pioneers, 
for his efforts pi’oved a complete failure owing to the unsuitable 
character of the land on his father’s farm. Possessed of the 
necessary means, and of "energy and perseverance to cany out 
his design, he subsequently obtained possession of the farm of 
Frogden, at the base of the Cheviot Hills, the sharp undulating 
soil of which was admirably adapted to the growth of roots. 
Here the experiment succeeded beyond the most sanguine ex- 
pectations, and this was the first introduction of two-horse 
ploughing without a driver. The ridging of the turnip crop by 
ploughs thus equipped led to the winter feeding of cattle and 
sheep, and gradually brought about improvements till then un- 
precedented in the history of agriculture. The field is still 
pointed out where Dawson, with the reins in his hands behind 
the plough, and his pair of horses, di’ew the first successful 
turnip ridge. 
In far-off times the only rotation practised appears to have 
been that known as the out- and in-field system ; when one 
field became exhausted by repeated cropping it was left to Nature 
to recuperate, wliilst another was undergoing a course of crop- 
ping. In times when tenants were bound down by leases and 
stringent agreements a definite rotation of crops was specified. 
I can look back to the days of my pupilage when part of my 
