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

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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$*' Horfe-Hoing? In p. 149. of tie /amt EJfay, “ Mr. Tulls Horft hoe Plow does the Work very expaditioufly.” In Effay for July, p. 134. “ But if the Farmer would drill in his Wheat by a Plow made for that Purpofe, ** one Bulhel [to an Acre] will be fufficient, it being a Truth, even beyond a Peradventure, thatWheat efpe- “ cially on good Land is generally low’d too thick.” In Preface to September, they infert the following Letter from a Gentleman, Part whereof I have ex- traded. B ' Efftx, July 12. 1732, Mr. Switzer, *• TN Anfwer to your’s concerning the Planting or Setting of Corn, with proper Inftrumentt, and for in- ** troducing a kind of Vineyard-Culture into our Fields, I acquaint you, that I have made diligent Search “ amongft antient Authors, but can’t find any thing, which feems to point; that Way, although it mult «* be acknowledged, to be a very pleafant, ufeful, advantageous Method, in all well-cultivated Soils; and “ in thofe Years efpecially when Corn and Grafs-Seeds of all kinds are dear, provided that there could “ be fuch Inftruments found out, which would be regular and pun&ual in the Delivery of the Seed at e- “ qual Diftances, being fully convinced, that the Sowing of Grain at random, and fo thick as it ufed to be* “ (whatever it is in Grafs) is yet in Bread and other Corn, a very bad Practice. But this Gentleman fays, he hath found amongft the modern Authors Gabriel Platt, (whom I have never read) to have fell into this Way of Thinking. He relates from Platt the prodigious Benefit of this Sort of Husbandry, which appears to be only the Setting of Corn by Hand, and as it feems to me his Jnttrumenu Were a Sort of Setting-Sticks of Iron, which in fome Places are called Dibbles. Whatever they were, they could have no Refemblance of mine, as the Praflice was inferiour, as may eafily appear by the Gentleman’s Relation of it. He has the following Paragraph: “ And this Method, which was partly put into Pra&ice in the Year 1601. (when a little Treatife of that ** kind was publifhed) was in great Repute ; but afterwards, when the Price of Wheat grew cheap, and La- “ bourer’s Wages grew higher, that Practice ceafed for Want of more expeditious Ways by Inftruments, ** which Want the Author of the Horfe-hoing Husbandry (with what Succefs we are not able at prefent to fay) ** has lately endeavoured to fupply.” The Letter concludes thus: / # f “I have read what Wor ledge and the Author of the Horfe-Hoing Husbandry hare wrote on this Subject j tX which with my own Obfervations fhall be the Subjeft of fome other Letter, / am your Ajfurtd Friend and Servant, I. K. I hope this Judgment of both Strangers and Enemies may be fufficient to juftify the Solicitations that prod Cured my Effay to be written and publilhed. P. i. L. 38. Much of the Speculative Part left out, if it had been more, it had been no great Matter.\ Not that too much of it is poflible to be writ ; but becaufe I had ftarted more Points than I had Time and Opportunity to write of fo fully as I defired; for in this Matter I am of an Opinion quite contrary to Mr. Eve¬ lyn who blames the Writers on Husbandry for being too full in Particulars, and for not writing on more Points: He would have them be more in Generals, and lefs full in Particulars 5 which feems to me to have been the Fault of every Writer on this Subjed; and *tis not much better than to be Aliquod in Omni¬ bus, in Singulis Nihil. But indeed many Points ftarted may, when enlarged on, ferve for framing more Hypothejes, as well as for lengthening thofe already framed : And they are fo ufeful for Difcoveries in Natural Philofophy, that tho’ they lhould be all of them in fome Part falfe ; yet amongft them they bring Truths to light, which without Hypothefes might have never appeared. P. ii. L. 34. 1 beg Pardon of the Learned Writers from whom 1 am forced to differ in Opinion, ThS' Equivocal Society accufe me with condemning all Authors, pretending that I fay in *ty Treatife, that all their Books are fit for nothing, but to be thrown into the Fire ; and that, in Imitation of a certain Nobleman, I had carried them on a Hand-barrow and burnt them. But as I never have faid any fuch Thing, this Falfity is ft mere Invention of that Society. The Story of the Hand-barrow inferted in my Preface to the Specimen, being firft told nte of a Lord Chan¬ cellor, eminent both for Eloquence and Juftice, by a Perfon of Rank, and lince confirmed by others, I have no Reafon to doubt the Truth of it: But for my Part, I was fo far from PaffmgSentence on thole Au¬ thors, that I had, when this was firft told me, read none of them, and not many of them yet ; nor had f ever an Inclination to bum anfy Writings of Agriculture, except my own, which I had certainly done, in* flead of publilhing them, for my Diltike of the Style and Manner of Expreflion different from the Elegance , of other Authors, had it not been for the Truths they contained. Which, as I apprehended, were extant in n* other. I had no Prejudice againft the Perfon of any Author ; and have made no Objection to their Opinions with¬ out giving my Reafons, which happen to be fuch as this bragging boafting Society have not been able to anfwer in any one Particular ; for which I appeal to the judicious Reader of their two Volumes. But how differently this Society treat Authors and their Books, appears in many Places of their Treatife, of which I will quote fome, viz. in the Introduction to Vol. I. p. xiv. they fay, “ Lord Bacon, Hartlib, Bhthe, “ Houghton and Mortimer fall extremely fbort, &cn P. xv.Want of Experience in Mr. Laurence, whe> “ hath fallen very Ihort of the Title of his Book. Mr. Bradley'% trifling Repetitions of what wds of little “ Ufe, &c.n P. xxii. Dr. Woodward, a Clofet-Philofopher. P. xlvii. Much Rubbifti in the Tnn/btei ** Foreign Authors; and in the Tran factions of the Royal Society, and in Houghton**, Mortimer, Laurence and •* Bradlej'i Works.” In p. liv. Mr. Evelyn i* fo full of Erudition and Learning, that there is fesree ro5m “ left$

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