II

The Transformation of England in the
Eighteenth Century

Agricultural Changes

The great industrial changes of the eighteenth century, which
caused Arnold Toynbee to apply the term "The Industrial
Revolution" to the period immediately after the year 1760,
affected, in turn, agriculture, manufacturfe, and transit. But
perhaps the deepest change of all was in men's habits of thought
about industrial processes and methods. The disposition to
look upon these as properly determined by tradition and cus-



XXX INTRODUCTION

torn was obstinate, but it perforce had to give place to a
recognition of the necessity for continual change and im-
provement.
There were many writers, landlords, and tenant farmers who
took part in the agricultural innovations, and those selected
for mention must be taken as representatives, rather than as
names of exclusive importance.
Jethro Tull, born 1674, began farming in 1699 and died in
1 741. In 1733 he published his book Horse-hoeing Husbandry,
probably the most important book in the history of British
agriculture. The essential idea of it was that a plant is a living
thing, which can live vigorously only if the conditions of vig-
orous life are present, and that those conditions need to be
ascertained by practical experiment. He advocated care in
selecting, cleansing, and changing seed; invented a drill to
deposit the seed in furrows at what he found by experiment to
be the right depth, instead of scattering it broadcast. He dis-
covered that the roots must be given room, and must be fed
from the air as well as from the soil, so he hoed and pulverised
the space between the drills. He was a great advocate of tur-
nips, the introduction of which was destined to revolutionise the
methods of stock-raising.
