TULL, Jethro.

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The Horse-Hoing Husbandry; compleat in four Parts: or, an Essay On the Principles of Tillage and Vegetation. Second illustrated edition, much enlarged from the "specimen" first edition of 1731; bound with the second edition (1740) of the continuously paginated supplement, first published in 1736. A pioneering work in scientific agriculture, its principles - widely adopted across Europe during the 18th century - led to greatly increased crop yields and a reduction in labour requirements."Tull first observed that pulverizing the soil without manuring it allowed improved aeration and freer entrance of water to the roots of plants, thereby increasing their nutriment. His most important invention, however, was the horse-drill, the construction of which was based on the mechanism of the church organ which he had studied as a young man when he was much interested in music. The drill, which he perfected in 1701, enabled him to sow seeds thinly in parallel rows and continuously in each row. Another of his inventions, the horse-hoe, was then used to improve the weeding and aeration of the adjacent soil. He made many other valuable observations on seed and the rate of sowing, and his inventions first made possible the reduction of manual labour on farms, while the use of his drill saved much seed. It was, in fact, the refusal of his labourers to introduce improved methods of sowing which led Tull to the invention of the drill by which he could obtain the desired results with less manual

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