Horse-hoeing husbandry - Jethro Tull

The Reasons why a whole Field of Wheat doth not produce a Crop equal in proportion to a Yard or Perch cut, rubbed out, and weighed immediately upon the Spot, may be, because the Grain of the Field lying to sweat in the Mow, loses considerably of its Weight and Measure. There is also some lost in the Field by Reapers, and by Leasers; and some is by Threshers thrown out of the Barn; and some of them are found to have Contrivances to carry home with them at Night, Part of the Wheat they thresh in the Day. I say nothing of those Thieves, who in Harvest rob the Field in the Dark; tho’ they are not very uncommon.

I missed of making my proposed Experiment of the single Row, after I had prepared for it by plowing out one of the double in several Places for that Purpose; but, in the Hurry of Harvest, they were cut together with the rest, without making any Trial; as should have been made, if my Illness had not prevented my Attendance in the Field at the time of Reaping.

The Practice and Instruments that are left off for better in their room, as the Quadruple and Treble Rows, &c. are still useful to be shewn, in order to deter others from going into an inferior Method that is now exploded; for some might think it an Improvement of the double Rows, &c. by their own Invention, if they should not know it had been already tried.

INDEX.

Artificial Pasture of Plants exceeds the Natural, [p. 27], &c.
Atmosphere, by Rain and Dews, reimburses the pulverized Earth, [70], [127]
B
Barley, a hoed Plant of it produced Fifty large Ears, [65]
Barley drilled on Ridges must be reaped, [63]
But needs not be bound up in Sheaves, [ibid.]
Barley is the worse for Seed by being sown at Patney, [240]
Blight, the true Causes of it, [144], &c.
Remedies against the Blight, [149], &c.
Breast-Plough insufficient for Tillage of strong turfy Land, [284]
C
Change of Species of Plants not necessary on account of different Nourishment, [217], &c.
Change of the Individuals of some Species of Plants, why useful, [239]
Clover, Broad, a Damage to Barley when sown amongst it, [188]
A Remedy against it, [ibid.]
Cytisus, why it cannot be so great an Improvement in England as St. Foin, [172]
D
Dung, in what manner ’tis beneficial, [29], &c.
Dung is the Putrefaction of Earth altered by Vessels, [31]
It may afford some Warmth in Winter, but is sometimes injurious by its Hollowness, [34]
A considerable Quantity of Dung is necessary to the Old Husbandry, but not to the New, [33]
Dung, when reduced by a thorough Putrefaction, is next to nothing, [275]
Why Dung is not injurious to Corn, &c., [33]
Dung, why more beneficial to Turneps than to other Plants, [88]
Gross Dung, why it should be prohibited the Kitchen-Garden, [30], &c.
E
Earth, the Price of a Foot of it, and of a Row [124], [125]
Particles of Earth much more heterogeneous after passing Vessels, [237]
Effluvia of Animal Bodies noxious, [32]
Equivocal Generation disproved, [78], [79]
Exhaustion, [270], [271]
F
Food, or Pabulum of Plants, what it is, [15], &c.
Frost, how it is advantageous, [116]
Furrow, [114]
Furrows lying long open next the Rows of Wheat beneficial; and the Cause of it, [422], [423]
G
Grass, natural, why not killed by constant Feeding, [187]
H
Harrowing, how injurious, [46]
Of harrowing Wheat-Ridges, [100], [101], [103]
Heat, the very least Degree of it hard to distinguish from the very least Degree of Cold, [34]
Hills, Mr. Bradley’s quibbling Arguments about them answered, [248]
Wet Hills made dry by plowing them cross the Descent, [241]-[247]
Hoeing in general defined, [47]
Its Uses and Benefit, [47]-[73]
The Error of fansying that Hoeing lets in the Drought, [52]
Hoed Plants do not impoverish Land, as sown Plants do, [71]
Horse-hoeing:
Mr. Evelyn’s Observation of an Orchard, kept in Tillage, coming to Perfection in half the time of one not plowed, [57]
Horse-hoeing supplies the Use of local Motion to Plants, [64]
It equals Dung, [70], [94], [269]
Its Benefits discovered by Change of Colour of the Plants next to it, [51]
Comparison of it with Hand-hoeing, [49]
Some general Directions for performing the Horse-hoeing Husbandry, [57], &c. [114], &c.
I
Interval, what it is, [61]
Wide Intervals, [72], [122], &c.
The Reason why Intervals may be narrower for Barley than for Wheat, [63]
L
Land strong and light, [38], &c.
No one Arable Land exceeds another above twenty times in Richness, [44]
Land burnt becomes next to barren, [40]
Land without Cement is unfit for Tillage, [44]
Land that is unfit for Horse-hoeing, [72]
Luserne described, [193]
The Goodness of Luserne, [ibid.]
The Antients Superstition concerning it, [194], &c. [210], &c.
Swelling of Cattle by eating Luserne when green, [194]
Why Luserne is more proper for the Hoeing Husbandry than the common Husbandry in England, [199], &c.
The Soil most proper for Luserne, [204]
Directions about planting Luserne, [205], &c.
Luserne decays as natural Grass increases amongst it, [197], &c. [213]
M
Mints, several Experiments made on them, [8], &c.
Observation upon those Experiments, and Inferences from them, [11], &c.
N
New and Old Husbandry, the Differences between them, [254], &c.
O
Objections likely to prepossess People’s Minds against making Trials of the Horse-hoeing Husbandry answered, [64], &c. [129], &c.
P
Pasture of Plants described, [22], &c.
How the Vegetable Pasture differs from the Vegetable Pabulum, [22]
The artificial Pasture of Plants vastly exceeds the natural, [27], &c.
Plants, annual, that live the longest, have most need of hoeing, [92]
They are more altered, as to their Growth, by Culture than by Climate, [204]
There is no need to change the Species of Plants in Husbandry, on account of their supposed different Nourishment, [214], &c.
Dr. Woodward’s Arguments for the vulgar Opinion in this Matter answered, [214], &c.
Mr. Bradley’s Arguments for the same vulgar Opinion answered, [222]
Mr. Bradley’s Arguments from the perpendicular Growth of Plants answered, [66], &c. [228], &c.
Why long tap-rooted Plants do not succeed so well after one another, as they do after those that are not tap-rooted, [232]
Individuals of several Species (or Sorts) of Plants, are beneficially changed, [238], &c.
Partition, what it is, [61]
The Width of Partitions in the latest Practice, [108], &c.
Ploughs, [277], &c.
Hoe-Plough, [394], &c.
Q
Quick-lime for drying of brined Wheat to drill, [141]
R
Ridges, the Methods and Reasons for making them, [241]
Ridges of Six Feet, Reasons for leaving them off, [108], &c.
Roller, when injurious, [46]
Rooks, to prevent their Damage, [107], &c.
Roots, their Description, [1], &c.
Several Ways to discover their horizontal Extent, [2], &c.
The Cause of People’s being deceived in the Extent of Roots, [5]
Great Length of Roots necessary, on account of their Office, [7]
How Roots and Guts agree, and wherein they differ, [6], &c.
How Roots take in the Pabulum, [41]
Roots have a Communication in all their Cavities, [13]
Roots supply each other reciprocally with Water and Food, [ibid.]
Roots cannot easily penetrate, unless the Land be opened by Tillage, [6]
The Rotting of the Roots of broad Clover, and St. Foin, is a Manure to Land, [234]
Rows, the Inconveniencies of too many or too few on an Acre, [122], &c.
Reasons for leaving off the middle Row, [108], &c.
’Tis no great Odds whether the Rows of Wheat, &c. stand on the precedent Partitions, or the Intervals, [424]
Rows too near, and mixed Crops, discarded, [62]
Single Row proposed for Smyrna Wheat, [136], &c.
Double, Treble, and even Quadruple Rows, are each called One Row, [62]
S
St. Foin, its Description and Names, [157]
Directions for planting and ordering it, [159], &c.
St. Foin, and other long tap-rooted Plants, suffer more by their Pasture’s being overstocked, than other Plants do, [167]
Directions about St. Foin Hay, [173], &c.
Quantity of St. Foin on an Acre, [186]
Why St. Foin makes a forty times greater Crop on poor Land, than its natural Grass or Turf, [157]
Directions for saving St. Foin Seed, [178], &c.
Of feeding St. Foin by Sheep, [187]
St. Foin Plants not killed by cutting off their Heads, [188]
St. Foin takes Nine Parts in Ten of its Nourishment below the Staple of the Land, [191]
Of breaking up old St. Foin, [189]
Great Improvement made on Arable Land by St. Foin, [188], &c.
Sarrition, [53], &c.
Seeds, in their natural Climate do not degenerate, [238], &c.
Causes why Seeds, as to their Individuals, do degenerate, [ibid.]
How to know the most proper Depth to plant all sorts of Seeds at, [58], &c.
Some sorts of Seeds come in the Air, or by Birds, [78]
Sheep, how injurious to drilled Wheat, [149]
Smuttiness of Wheat, [139]
The Causes of Smuttiness, [ibid.]
The Cure of Smuttiness, [ibid.] &c.
Soils differ chiefly in respect of Heat and Moisture, [20], [21]
A Soil can be exhausted by nothing but Roots, [276]
There is no way for us to enrich a Soil but by Pulveration, and keeping it from being exhausted by Vegetables, [ibid.]
Stratum: The Under Stratum of light Land may be richer than that of strong Land, [191], [238]
T
Tillage beneficial to all Sorts of Land, [36], &c.
Tillage can never make Land too fine, [44]
Tillage of the low Vineyards, [56], &c.
Insufficient Tillage, how ’tis injurious, [40]
Tillage can pulverize as well as Dung, [35], &c.
The Plough, in Field-tillage, why preferable to the Spade, [280]
The same Quantity of Tillage will produce the same Quantity of Food, &c., [230], &c.
Transplanting, [48]
Trees, the Damage they do to Crops is by robbing, as Weeds only, [74]
The Reason why some sorts of Trees endure hard Winters better in England than in Languedoc, [202]
Trials unexpensive proposed, [133], &c.
Turneps, the Soil most proper for them, [79]
Directions concerning them, [80]
Advantage of drilling and horse-hoeing of Turneps, [ibid.]
Several manners of spending Turneps by Sheep, [90]
V
Veerings and Hentings, [123], &c.
Vineyards owe their great Products to the Hoe-tillage; and from them the Author first took his Scheme, [56], &c.
W
Water, how injurious, and how beneficial, to Wheat, [97]
Weeds, their Definition, [73]
Weeds pernicious in several respects, [ibid.] &c.
Their Robbing proved by Experiment, [74]
Why the Race of Weeds cannot be extirpated by the common Husbandry, [75]
The Race of Weeds most likely to be extirpated by hoeing, [77]
Weeds cannot be killed before they grow, [129]
Wheat, why it requires hoeing more than Spring-Corn, [92], &c.
Directions about drilling and hoeing of Wheat, See [Chap. ix.]
How a Wheat-Crop is augmented, [119], &c.
Of feeding Wheat by Sheep, [148], &c.
Wheat Ears will be large or small, in proportion to the Nourishment given to their Plants, [119]
Wheat-ears do not lodge, by reason of their Weight, [148], [149]
Of weighing the Product of a Yard or Perch of a Row of Wheat, [129], &c.
Cone Wheat and Lammas Wheat, their Difference, [425]
Smyrna Wheat, [104], [136], &c.
Of keeping of Wheat by drying it, [131]
Some Land unfit for Wheat, [117]
The time proper for Hand-hoeing of Wheat, [132]
Winter, what time is meant by it, [115]

FINIS.

Transcriber’s Notes

The language used for this e-text is that used in the source document. Inconsistent, unusual and archaic spelling has been retained (also of plant, proper and geographical names). The inconsistent numbering of Plates and individual Figures (some Roman, some Arabic numerals) has not been standardised.