COBBETT, William (ed. and intro.) - TULL, Jethro.

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The Horse-Hoeing Husbandry: Second Cobbett edition, following the first of 1822; Tull's pioneering treatise on agriculture was first published in 1731.Tull invented the horse-drawn seed drill and the horse hoe and promoted improved methods of soil cultivation. His innovations reduced the need for manual labour and lowered the amount of seed required. Though adoption was gradual, his work laid important foundations for the later mechanisation and rationalisation of crop production.The agrarian reformer and radical William Cobbett applied Tull's principles to his own 500 acres; "With his energy and vision, his heavy capital outlay, use of machinery, and understanding of scientific crop-rotation and stock-breeding, Cobbett was one of the new race of enlightened, liberal 'high farmers'" (Sambrook, p. 62). Cobbett called the work, "that Book of all Books on husbandry, the work of Jethro Tull, to the principles of whom I owe more than to all my other reading and all my experience" (cited in Sambrook, p. 99).This edition of 1829 is textually the same as that of 1822, but is in larger type, resulting in 466 compared to 332 pages.

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