The horse-hoing husbandry: or, an essay on the principles of tillage and vegetation ... Wherein is shewn a method of introducing a sort of vineyard-culture into the corn-fields, in order to increase their product, and diminish the common expence; by the use of instruments described in cuts / By I.T. [J. Tull].

  • Jethro Tull
Date:
1733
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The horse-hoing husbandry: or, an essay on the principles of tillage and vegetation ... Wherein is shewn a method of introducing a sort of vineyard-culture into the corn-fields, in order to increase their product, and diminish the common expence; by the use of instruments described in cuts / By I.T. [J. Tull]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    mejlre and Trimejlre u fo called from their ripening in two or three Months after they were Town.” And one of them (from Pliny) was ripe in forty Days after it was Town ; but after the Advantages he propofes from our Sowing them, and all his Quotations and Etymologies of them, though the one be called Tri- ticum xjlivum iff Trimejire PorU, and the other Triticum ijlivum iff 'Lcopyum tritico fpeltum, this Vlr. tuofo doth not pretend he ever faw either of them, and allows that he does ndt know whether they are Wheat or Barley ; and yet reproaches our Modern Authors for having “ laid fo little of it, that it is difficult ** in general to underhand what they fow thofe Grains for ; though l'ome few practical Farmers in Stafford “ and Oxfordjhire, iffc. may.” If they are fown by thepraSical Farmers fo near London, ’tis Wonder this pradical Farmer fhould be no better informed concerning thofe wonderful.hally advantageous Grains. The Rea on and Truth of thefe antient Worthies appear pretty equally in their erroneous Poetical Re¬ ligion, Afronomy and Agriculture, any one of them may be defended as we 1 as the other ; for that dead Men are Gods or Stars-, that the Sun fets in the Sea; and that P ul-veration is Poifon to light Land are equal Ab- furdities ; and he who writes for refioring fuch Errors of the Antients, tho’ his Language in Verfe or in Profe fhould be as fine as theirs, it can be but Sound, inltead of Sen/e. P. 70. L. 17. Though the Produce of the South be the greatejl J This proves that the Crop doth not lodge on Account of its Bignefs. P. 70. L. 30. As by the white Colour it appears ] But now I fufpecl this to be a Miflake, it being more likely, that the white Colour of the Rind is owing to the Abfence of the Sun and free Air, than to the Chyle, as the Skin of thofe Parts of our own Bodies that are concealed from them, is whiter than of thofe which are expofed to them, though no Chyle Veffel comes near our Skin. P.72. L.51. Whenever Sheep break into my Drilled Wheat, fee J There are feveral Reafons why Sheep are more injurious to drilled Wheat than fown ; I would not therefore be underflood to decry the Pra&ice of feeding fown Wheat, when the Thicknefs and Irregularity of its Plants make it neceffary : 1 have only en¬ deavoured to {hew, that that Practice is founded upon a falfe Theory : For if Wheat fell down by Reafon of the Luxuriance of it, a Plant of it would be more likely to fall when fingle and at a great Diftance f rom every other Plant, than when near to other Plants, becaufe fuch a fingle Plant is (exteris paribus) alwavs the mod luxuriant; and I have not feen fuch a one fall (except Birds pull down the Ears,) but have oblerved the Contrary, though its Ears are the larged. The Subject I write on is Drilling and Hoing, and of whatfoever elfe I think relates to the Practice or Theory thereof • which obliges me to advife againd Drilling too thick upon any Sort of Land ; but more efpecially upon very rich Land : For though I have no fuch Land, yet I apprehend that a too great Num¬ ber of Plants may overdock the Rows, and caufe them to be liable to fome of the Inconveniencies of fown Wheat; and in fuch a Cafe, perhaps. Sheep may be rather ufeful than prejudicial to the drilled Wheat; but of this I have had no Experience : And if it fhould be too thick, it will be owing to the Fault of the Manager or Driller, but I fuppofe it might be a better Remedy to cut out the fuperfluous Plants by the Hand-Hoe, in the Manner that fuperfluous Turneps are hoed out. P. 74. L. 22. Take away fo much Nourijhment as to turn the Colour. ] But this is a very difficult Matter. P. 75. L. 19. Settle about the Roots, and cover them.] Some Land is very fubjett to the Misfortune of expofing the Roots, and there ore is lefs proper for Wheat ; for when the Roots are left bare to the Air, they will be fhrivelled and unable to fupport the Plants : And on fuch Lands the Wheat Plants have all fallen down, though in N umber and Bignefs not fufficient to have produced the 4th Part, of a tolerable Crop if they had flood. I am inclined to believe, that a thorough Tillage might be a Remedy to fuch a lcofe hollow Soil for ’tis certain to a Demonflration, that it would render it more de7ife, and increafe its fpecifick Gravity : But to enrich it fufficiently without Manure the Tillage mud pulverize it tnuch more minutely, and expofe it longer than is required for the dronged Land. The Fold alfo will be very helpful on fuch hollow Land; but the long flrawy Dung, that Equivocus preferibes to it, mud needs make it more hollow. P. 76. L. 41. Water kills the Root.] If there be Springs near (or within feveral Foot of) the Surface of the Soil, St. Foin will die therein in Winter, even after it has been vigourous in the firfl Summer ; and alfo after it hath produced a great Crop in the fecond Summer. P. 76. L. 50. Not to fujfer it [St. Foin Seed] to be covered deep in any Land.] I am told, (but I believe it may be by Miflake, I never having feen Mr. Millers Book,) that Mr. Miller in his Gardener's Didionary affirms, that St. Foin Seed will come up when planted feven or eight Inches deep. If any one has planted it with a Gage at that Depth, and feeing it come up, has taken it out of the Ground, meafured the Neck between the Husk and the two firft Leaves, and found it to be of the mentioned length, he mud believe it • but without fuch a Trial, I own it is to me very incredible. It has indeed in very hollow puffy new-broke Meadow-land, come up from fomething above two Inches depth, its Neck being of that length ; but here the Mould was fo exceeding light and hollow, that it made very little Refinance againd the riling Head : In common arable Land, I never faw a St. Foin Neck fo long, and I have examined a Multitude of them. I have alfo found many Hundreds of them to mifearry by not being able to pufh their Heads through the incumbent Mould when covered but half an Inch deep in the Channels, when a fudden Dafli of Rain has come upon white Land immediately after Drilling. Perhaps fome may imagine, that St. Foin comes up from a great Depth, when fown under Furrow : But this is a Miflake ; for ’tis only the Seeds which lie (hallow that come up, the deep are all buried. Of the great Quantity they fow, there are always enough that lie (hallow; for the Furrow in turning doth not throw the Seeds all under it when the Earth is line, and the Seeds (their Husks making them of lefs fpecifick Gravi¬ ty than the Earthy rife upwards when moved by the Harrow-tines; and the greated Part ot (uch a large Quantity of Seeds being buried and dead is often a great Advantage to the Crop ; for Ihould they all come up# the Land might be unmeafurably overdock’d with PJants. P. 78. L. 5. Produced a Crop double to the rejl, iffc.] But Note ; this Acre was dungd and in better Or der than the red. P. 78. L. 14- Did plow and ficratch out a Multitude of its Plants.] d his plowing and fcratching was a Sort of Hoing which helped the St. Foin by a fmall Degree ot Pulveration, as well as by making the Plants thinner. tj I