This is doubly curious because Tull lived in a humid country.
However, it may be mentioned that his farm consisted of a very poor
chalk soil, so that the conditions under which he labored were more
nearly those of an arid country than could ordinarily be found in a
country of abundant rainfall. While the practices of Jethro Tull
were in themselves very good and in general can be adopted to-day,
yet his interpretation of the principles involved was wrong. In view
of the limited knowledge of his day, this was only to be expected.
For instance, he believed so thoroughly in the value of cultivation
of the soil, that he thought it would take the place of all other
methods of maintaining soil-fertility. In fact, he declared
distinctly that "tillage is manure," which we are very certain at
this time is fallacious. Jethro Tull is one of the great
investigators of the world. In recognition of the fact that, though
living two hundred years ago in a humid country, he was able to
develop the fundamental practices of soil culture now used in
dry-farming, the honor has been done his memory of placing his
portrait as the frontispiece of this volume.
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