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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    if 239 Had Equivocus relided in the Country, he might have (een Hogs (as mad Work a* he thinks they would lnak.e in a Field) Till Tome Sorts of Land better than the Virgilian Raftering in Hamp/hire and Wilts, which fometimes does not quite half-plough the Ground. And certainly a Hog is a better Tiller than an Afs is a Pruner. Why then is it not as likely that Heathen Tillage Ihould be difcovered from a Hog* as Pruning from an Afs ? If Tillage was infpired at firft by the Author of all Things, in any other Manher than by making Man a rational Creature, then ’tis certain the Mofaick Tillage, if we know what that was, would appear to be different from the Virgilian, which is very imperfect; but whatever is the Work of miraculous Infpiration muft be perfect : But whether the Hebrew Verb which is tranflated [to Till\ be of the fame Signification as’tis in our Wejlern Languages, may for what I know be a Queftion. It is undoubtedly true, that when God made Man he furnifhed him with every Thing neceflary for his Subfiftance ; but Tillage, fuch as we mean, was not neceflary for that Purpofe before Mankind became numerous; for in fome Countries People have fubfifted without it feveral Thoufand Years fince the Creation of the World: Therefore, whether the Infe¬ rence Equivocus draws from Genejis be right, I am not Tbeologijl enough to determine, that being none of my Pro'eflion ; neither would I in any Thing impugn the Meaning of Holy Writ knowingly. Iam now writing againft Heathens, of whofe Errors Equivocus is an Advocate; and by his Principles, feems to be of the worft Clafs of them, I mean a Lucretian ; and therefore it might have been unfair to quote Mofes againft them or him, if it had not appeared in his EJfay, that he had read Genejis ; where in the firjl and fecond Chapters he may find himfelf condemned for an Infidel and an Atheift; not by a forced Con- ftrudtion, but by the plain indifputable Meaning of that Scripture, which is as full an Authority for the Crea¬ tion of all Plants and their Seed, as of all Animals, and even for the Creation of the World itfelf; and this is what I think never hath been denied by any Body except by him, who hath faid in his Heart there is no God : And whether Equivocus doth not deny it, when in Favour of Equivocal Generation, he affirms, that Plants are produced by a fortuitous Concourfe of Particles or Atoms, without real corporeal Seed, is left to the Judgment of every Reader, except of the lower Clafs. ’Tis alfo remarkable how angry Equivocus is with thole who oppofe his Lucretian Dodtrine, when he in his Nttmb. vi. p. 3. not only quotes Virgil againft an- tient and modern Theology, but alfo in p. 44, 45. of his EJfay for May, complains in the following Manner, that “ the great and unreafonable Cavils that are by feveral pious and well-meaning Men brought againft that Paflage of Virgil, in which he gives an Account of the fpontaneous Production of Plants, are very “ well known to all :hat are converfant in the Writings of the belt Theologijls, who argue, that fuch an 4* Aflertion would introduce an equivocal or fpontaneous Production of Plants, which would be equal to Creation itfelf; and that Creation being the Work of Omnipotence is not communicable to any Creature ** (much lefs to dull Earth) and that it muft be beyond the Power of natural Agents to produce Things after that Manner j for Creation, fay they, feems to be not only the Production of a Thing out of nothing, “ but alfo out of indifpofed Matter, than which nothing, according to the Opinion of thefe learned Sages; u can be more abfurd.” Since Equivocus will thus upbraid pious learned Sages, and the beft Theologijls as unreafonable Cavillers; for oppofing his own Atheiftical Principles, he is an unfit Judge to condemn others of them. But here I muft own that I think Equivocus, in order to countenance his Atheiftical Opinion with the Au¬ thority of the Prince of Heathen Poets, hath much mifreprefented Virgils Meaning in that PafTage, viz. Virg* Ceorg. ii. Principio arbortbus varia ejl natura creandis. JTamque alia, nulls hominum cogentibus, ip fie , Sponte Jua veniunt, campojque & jlumina latd Curva tenent ; ut mo lie filer, lentaque genijla, Populus & glauca canentia fronde Jalifta. What Pretence can be taken from this Paflage to infer, that Virgil believed the Equivocal Generation ©f Plants f He fays no more than what we all lee, viz. that fome Plants grow without our planting or fow- ing them. And nothing more is expreflfedby Sponte Juaveniunt, nullis hominum cogentibus. P. 132. L. 24. She [Ceres] as they pretend, firjl taught the Art of Tillage.] This Equivocus in p. 3. of his EJfay for May, denies endeavouring to pervert even the Mythology of Virgil, whofe Errors he pretends fa Itrenuoufly to defend. Bat to convince Equivocus of this Blunder, I will quote him the ingenious Commen¬ tator and Tranflator he commends, and has had the Prefumption to name fo often in his Syjlem (nobody can fuppofe with his ConfentJ That Anonymous Critick in his Notes upon Mr. Dryden* Translation of Vir¬ gil's firft Georgic, blames Mr. Dryden for this Line, viz. Himfelf [Jupiter] invented firjl the Jhining Share. “ ’Tis ftrange (fays this Commentator) Mr. Dryden Ihould make fo great a Miftake as this, when a ** few Lines following he fays, Firjl Ceres taught, &c. ** What Virgil means here he explains more fully afterwards, * ! .Primujque per artem Movit agros----- “ fignifies he [ Jupiter] made it neceflary to Jlir the Ground, becaufe he filled it with Weeds, and obliged ** Men to find out Ways to deftroy them. Ceres helped them to the Plough out of Compaflion. Therefore Jupiter was not the Inventor of Tillage, but Ceres only. P. 132. L. 51. Fall as a Sacrifice to her [Ceres’s] Altar, as the Porca Pracidanca did amongjl the Ro¬ mans.] Here Equivocus inp. 5. of the fame EJfay urges another of his falfe and ridiculous Arguments, via. “ That Hogs were held in Abomination, and forbid to be offered up in Sacrifices, or even to be eat at the private Tables of the Heathens, and therefore could not be looked upon as the Authors or Inventors of <l any publick Good, Ifc. But