1 00:00:01,280 --> 00:00:04,320 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class, a production 2 00:00:04,360 --> 00:00:13,600 Speaker 1: of I Heart Radio. Hello and welcome to the podcast. 3 00:00:13,640 --> 00:00:17,640 Speaker 1: I'm Tracy V. Wilson and I'm Holly Fry. My comfort 4 00:00:17,760 --> 00:00:22,160 Speaker 1: TV viewing lately has been those BBC historic farm shows 5 00:00:22,200 --> 00:00:24,560 Speaker 1: that came out in the two thousands and the twenty teens. 6 00:00:25,480 --> 00:00:27,600 Speaker 1: I haven't actually seen the first one, which is called 7 00:00:27,640 --> 00:00:29,720 Speaker 1: Tales from the Green Valley. I'm not sure if that's 8 00:00:29,720 --> 00:00:33,160 Speaker 1: streaming anywhere, but I have made my way through Victorian Farm, 9 00:00:33,360 --> 00:00:37,800 Speaker 1: Edwardian Farm, Wartime Farm and Tudor Monastery Farm. If you've 10 00:00:37,840 --> 00:00:40,879 Speaker 1: never seen these, they are filmed over a year at 11 00:00:40,880 --> 00:00:44,280 Speaker 1: a living history site. There's a historian named Ruth Goodman 12 00:00:44,440 --> 00:00:47,320 Speaker 1: and then archaeologist. They started out with Peter Ginn and 13 00:00:47,360 --> 00:00:51,680 Speaker 1: Alex Langland's and then Tom Pinfold replaced Alex in Tutor 14 00:00:51,680 --> 00:00:55,000 Speaker 1: Monastery Farm. So in each of these series they try 15 00:00:55,040 --> 00:00:57,400 Speaker 1: to recreate what life was like for British farmers at 16 00:00:57,440 --> 00:01:00,800 Speaker 1: a particular place in time. Uh. And they have been 17 00:01:01,920 --> 00:01:04,560 Speaker 1: like my downtime viewing for the past little stretch. So 18 00:01:04,680 --> 00:01:08,720 Speaker 1: watching these in the order that they came out means 19 00:01:08,760 --> 00:01:11,480 Speaker 1: that I had seen a lot of fields being planted 20 00:01:11,600 --> 00:01:14,600 Speaker 1: using a seed drill, which is a machine that digs 21 00:01:14,600 --> 00:01:16,960 Speaker 1: a place for the seeds to grow, and it drops 22 00:01:17,000 --> 00:01:20,200 Speaker 1: the seeds into that place and then it covers them up. 23 00:01:21,120 --> 00:01:23,600 Speaker 1: And then I got to Tutor Monastery farm, which is 24 00:01:23,680 --> 00:01:28,120 Speaker 1: set before the seed drill was used in Britain, and 25 00:01:28,160 --> 00:01:31,240 Speaker 1: there's this whole scene where Peter and Tom are getting 26 00:01:31,280 --> 00:01:34,080 Speaker 1: ready to sow their seeds by manual broadcasting, which just 27 00:01:34,160 --> 00:01:39,080 Speaker 1: means flinging them out by hand into the field, and 28 00:01:39,160 --> 00:01:42,920 Speaker 1: the narrator says something about how this is how it 29 00:01:43,000 --> 00:01:47,120 Speaker 1: was done before Jethrow Tull invented the seed drill. And 30 00:01:47,200 --> 00:01:50,720 Speaker 1: I had one of those records scratch mental moments because 31 00:01:50,840 --> 00:01:54,040 Speaker 1: I think of Jethrow Tull as the name of a band, 32 00:01:55,120 --> 00:01:58,960 Speaker 1: and while I probably, uh, you know, assumed that this 33 00:01:59,040 --> 00:02:03,360 Speaker 1: band was named for a person, I definitely did not 34 00:02:03,440 --> 00:02:08,400 Speaker 1: recall that the person was an eighteenth century gentleman farmer 35 00:02:09,160 --> 00:02:14,200 Speaker 1: often credited with inventing the seed drill. So that became 36 00:02:14,240 --> 00:02:18,000 Speaker 1: what I had to do a podcast on next. He 37 00:02:18,040 --> 00:02:20,799 Speaker 1: could or could not play the jazz flute. We don't know. 38 00:02:22,400 --> 00:02:25,080 Speaker 1: We actually don't know jeff Row Tull's birth date, but 39 00:02:25,160 --> 00:02:31,119 Speaker 1: he was baptized on March thirty, sixteen seventy four, in Basilton, Berkshire, England. 40 00:02:31,480 --> 00:02:34,799 Speaker 1: His parents were Dorothy and Jethro Tull, and they were 41 00:02:34,800 --> 00:02:38,760 Speaker 1: an established farming family, but not a wealthy one. In fact, 42 00:02:38,800 --> 00:02:41,600 Speaker 1: the Greater Tull family had a range of legal and 43 00:02:41,680 --> 00:02:45,040 Speaker 1: financial problems, some of them connected to their work as 44 00:02:45,160 --> 00:02:49,480 Speaker 1: land agents for other people. The elder jeth Row Tull 45 00:02:49,639 --> 00:02:53,359 Speaker 1: also had an uncle who was also named jeff Row Tull. 46 00:02:53,960 --> 00:02:56,400 Speaker 1: This other jeff Row Tull was married to a woman 47 00:02:56,480 --> 00:03:00,960 Speaker 1: named Mary, and at various points j e Throw, husband 48 00:03:01,000 --> 00:03:05,160 Speaker 1: of Dorothy, and Jethrow, husband of Mary, transferred lands to 49 00:03:05,280 --> 00:03:07,520 Speaker 1: one another as they tried to keep it from being 50 00:03:07,639 --> 00:03:11,080 Speaker 1: seized in legal action or as payment for a debt. 51 00:03:11,919 --> 00:03:14,560 Speaker 1: It is all a confusing enough tangle that some early 52 00:03:14,600 --> 00:03:18,120 Speaker 1: biographies thought that these two older Jethrow Tells were the 53 00:03:18,200 --> 00:03:22,000 Speaker 1: same person, and a paper that I read that tried 54 00:03:22,040 --> 00:03:25,680 Speaker 1: to sort all of this out used Roman numerals to 55 00:03:25,800 --> 00:03:28,919 Speaker 1: differentiate them, even though they were not really Jethrow Tull. 56 00:03:29,000 --> 00:03:34,440 Speaker 1: The first, second and third uh, the agriculturist Jethro Tull, 57 00:03:34,680 --> 00:03:37,320 Speaker 1: that is, the Jethro Tull who this episode is about, 58 00:03:37,960 --> 00:03:41,120 Speaker 1: did not disclose very much about his personal life after 59 00:03:41,200 --> 00:03:44,920 Speaker 1: becoming very well known for his farming methods. Some of 60 00:03:44,920 --> 00:03:48,760 Speaker 1: this is probably connected to his family history. All those 61 00:03:48,840 --> 00:03:51,960 Speaker 1: debts and lawsuits would have been embarrassing and they also 62 00:03:52,400 --> 00:03:55,760 Speaker 1: kind of left him on financially shaky ground. He also 63 00:03:55,840 --> 00:03:57,880 Speaker 1: got a lot of criticism, which we will get to, 64 00:03:58,040 --> 00:04:00,080 Speaker 1: which seems to have made him just for luck to 65 00:04:00,360 --> 00:04:03,560 Speaker 1: talk about himself. So what we know about his life 66 00:04:03,680 --> 00:04:08,720 Speaker 1: is mostly pieced together from his writing. Jethro Tull attended 67 00:04:08,800 --> 00:04:11,960 Speaker 1: St John's College, Oxford, but there's no evidence that he 68 00:04:12,000 --> 00:04:15,120 Speaker 1: earned a degree that In sixteen ninety three he was 69 00:04:15,160 --> 00:04:18,400 Speaker 1: admitted as a student at Gray's Inn, which is one 70 00:04:18,400 --> 00:04:21,080 Speaker 1: of the four ends of court in London. He was 71 00:04:21,080 --> 00:04:24,400 Speaker 1: going to study law. This was in preparation for a 72 00:04:24,480 --> 00:04:28,640 Speaker 1: career in politics, but his family's legal and debt drama 73 00:04:28,760 --> 00:04:32,039 Speaker 1: combined with his own chronic illness to derail that plan. 74 00:04:33,000 --> 00:04:35,920 Speaker 1: As is often the case with historical figures, we don't 75 00:04:35,960 --> 00:04:38,880 Speaker 1: know the details of his illness, but it's often described 76 00:04:38,920 --> 00:04:44,120 Speaker 1: as a respiratory disorder, possibly tuberculosis. Tull was called to 77 00:04:44,200 --> 00:04:48,000 Speaker 1: the bar in sixteen ninety nine, but rather than practicing law, 78 00:04:48,160 --> 00:04:51,320 Speaker 1: he started working on one of the tolls farms in Oxfordshire. 79 00:04:51,920 --> 00:04:54,279 Speaker 1: He also got married that year to a woman named 80 00:04:54,320 --> 00:04:58,279 Speaker 1: Susannah Smith on October. The pair would go on to 81 00:04:58,320 --> 00:05:02,960 Speaker 1: have five children, four honors and one son. Although jeth 82 00:05:03,040 --> 00:05:06,680 Speaker 1: Row Tull is most associated with the seed drill, his 83 00:05:06,800 --> 00:05:10,640 Speaker 1: methods went beyond just using a machine to plant seeds 84 00:05:10,680 --> 00:05:14,800 Speaker 1: instead of broadcasting them by hand. Francis Forbes was a 85 00:05:14,880 --> 00:05:18,560 Speaker 1: follower of Tull's reforms, and here's how he described the 86 00:05:18,760 --> 00:05:24,360 Speaker 1: quote old husbandry pre Tull. This is from the extensive 87 00:05:24,400 --> 00:05:28,000 Speaker 1: practice of the new husbandry exemplified on different sorts of 88 00:05:28,080 --> 00:05:30,440 Speaker 1: land for a course of years, in which the various 89 00:05:30,480 --> 00:05:34,040 Speaker 1: methods of plowing, hoeing, and every other process and agriculture 90 00:05:34,040 --> 00:05:39,160 Speaker 1: recommended by Mr Tull, etcetera are considered. Forbes published that 91 00:05:39,279 --> 00:05:45,240 Speaker 1: in six he wrote quote in the old husbandry, the tillage, 92 00:05:45,360 --> 00:05:49,040 Speaker 1: namely the plowing and harrowing is done first, the plowing 93 00:05:49,120 --> 00:05:52,000 Speaker 1: to open the land, and the harrowing to make it 94 00:05:52,080 --> 00:05:55,920 Speaker 1: fine and get out the weeds. Dong or other manure 95 00:05:56,160 --> 00:05:59,320 Speaker 1: is then spread upon the land which is plowed in, 96 00:05:59,800 --> 00:06:02,640 Speaker 1: and then the seed, as of wheat or other corn, 97 00:06:02,800 --> 00:06:06,680 Speaker 1: is sown by hand broadcast which is covered by the 98 00:06:06,760 --> 00:06:10,920 Speaker 1: plow or harrow. Nothing more is usually done till harvest, 99 00:06:11,000 --> 00:06:14,840 Speaker 1: except weeding when the weeds are grown up pretty large. 100 00:06:15,120 --> 00:06:18,039 Speaker 1: A lot of these basic steps had been documented in 101 00:06:18,200 --> 00:06:21,600 Speaker 1: Virgil's Georgics, which were written in the first century b c. 102 00:06:22,520 --> 00:06:24,960 Speaker 1: And that is a very long, multi volume work of 103 00:06:25,120 --> 00:06:29,000 Speaker 1: verse that praised the agricultural life of rural Italy and 104 00:06:29,040 --> 00:06:32,960 Speaker 1: also offered instruction on subjects like planting and tending fields 105 00:06:32,960 --> 00:06:37,720 Speaker 1: and orchards, keeping bees, and raising livestock. It was definitely 106 00:06:37,839 --> 00:06:40,960 Speaker 1: a didactic work, but there was debate over the centuries 107 00:06:41,000 --> 00:06:43,600 Speaker 1: about whether Virgil had really intended it as a step 108 00:06:43,640 --> 00:06:48,359 Speaker 1: by step set of instructions for agriculture. Regardless, by the 109 00:06:48,400 --> 00:06:52,839 Speaker 1: time Tull started farming, a lot of Virgil's poetic recommendations 110 00:06:52,839 --> 00:06:56,159 Speaker 1: were being taken for granted as the right way to farm. 111 00:06:56,720 --> 00:07:00,720 Speaker 1: They had been incorporated into other farming and agricultural manuals. 112 00:07:01,279 --> 00:07:05,080 Speaker 1: In addition to the application of manure that Forbes mentioned, 113 00:07:05,120 --> 00:07:07,720 Speaker 1: there was also the burning of the stubble that was 114 00:07:07,800 --> 00:07:09,560 Speaker 1: left on the field at the end of the harvest 115 00:07:09,920 --> 00:07:14,240 Speaker 1: and allowing the land to periodically lie fallow. It was, 116 00:07:14,400 --> 00:07:17,920 Speaker 1: in Tool's words, quote accident, not choice, that made me 117 00:07:17,960 --> 00:07:21,480 Speaker 1: a farmer or rather many accidents which could not then 118 00:07:21,560 --> 00:07:25,680 Speaker 1: possibly be foreseen. Those many accidents meant that he had 119 00:07:25,720 --> 00:07:28,520 Speaker 1: a farm that quote I could not well dispose of, 120 00:07:28,720 --> 00:07:32,040 Speaker 1: And it being about the time when plow servants first 121 00:07:32,080 --> 00:07:35,560 Speaker 1: began to exalt their dominion over their masters, so that 122 00:07:35,600 --> 00:07:38,720 Speaker 1: a gentleman farmer was allowed to make but little profit 123 00:07:38,800 --> 00:07:42,200 Speaker 1: of his arable lands, and almost all mine being of 124 00:07:42,240 --> 00:07:45,480 Speaker 1: that sort, I resolved to plant my whole farm with 125 00:07:45,560 --> 00:07:49,280 Speaker 1: Saint Foyn. If you think that he sounds a little 126 00:07:49,320 --> 00:07:54,480 Speaker 1: resentful of his workers in this passage, you're correct. He 127 00:07:54,680 --> 00:07:58,240 Speaker 1: seems to have resented needing to hire people to do 128 00:07:58,360 --> 00:08:02,360 Speaker 1: anything so same. Foin is a legume that was grown 129 00:08:02,400 --> 00:08:05,480 Speaker 1: for forage, and at this point same point, seed was 130 00:08:05,520 --> 00:08:09,160 Speaker 1: almost exclusively important to England, and this made it expensive 131 00:08:09,200 --> 00:08:11,880 Speaker 1: and kind of hard to get an in Talls experience, 132 00:08:12,400 --> 00:08:14,960 Speaker 1: once a farmer did get it, a lot of it 133 00:08:15,040 --> 00:08:19,200 Speaker 1: just did not sprout. So Tall started trying to figure 134 00:08:19,200 --> 00:08:22,080 Speaker 1: out how to get the biggest result out of the 135 00:08:22,200 --> 00:08:26,320 Speaker 1: smallest amount of seed, including examining how deeply the seeds 136 00:08:26,320 --> 00:08:29,200 Speaker 1: should be planted and how much room they needed to grow. 137 00:08:30,320 --> 00:08:33,280 Speaker 1: He later wrote, quote I observed in several fields of 138 00:08:33,360 --> 00:08:36,560 Speaker 1: same coin sewn with that proportion of seed that in 139 00:08:36,600 --> 00:08:39,560 Speaker 1: those parts of them which produced the best crop there was, 140 00:08:40,080 --> 00:08:42,480 Speaker 1: as I counted them when the crop was taken off, 141 00:08:42,920 --> 00:08:45,920 Speaker 1: but about one plant for each square foot of surface. 142 00:08:46,520 --> 00:08:49,400 Speaker 1: And yet the number of seeds and seven bushels sewn 143 00:08:49,480 --> 00:08:52,920 Speaker 1: on each acre being calculated, amounted to one hundred and 144 00:08:53,000 --> 00:08:56,800 Speaker 1: forty to each square foot. And what was yet more 145 00:08:56,880 --> 00:09:00,160 Speaker 1: observable in other parts of the same fields, where a 146 00:09:00,240 --> 00:09:03,840 Speaker 1: much less number of seeds had miscarried, the crop was less. 147 00:09:04,520 --> 00:09:07,800 Speaker 1: Then after I had learned perfectly how to distinguish good 148 00:09:07,800 --> 00:09:11,600 Speaker 1: seeds from bad, and had by many trials found that 149 00:09:11,679 --> 00:09:15,600 Speaker 1: scarce any even of the best, would succeed unless covered 150 00:09:15,640 --> 00:09:20,320 Speaker 1: at a certain depth, especially in my strong land. In 151 00:09:20,360 --> 00:09:24,800 Speaker 1: other words, rather than throwing large numbers of seeds to 152 00:09:24,960 --> 00:09:29,360 Speaker 1: land randomly, Tull wanted to take a more controlled approach, 153 00:09:29,440 --> 00:09:32,679 Speaker 1: with fewer seeds sorted to include only the best ones. 154 00:09:33,080 --> 00:09:35,880 Speaker 1: I mean, it seems like, based on how much seed 155 00:09:35,920 --> 00:09:38,920 Speaker 1: people were using and where the plants are growing the best, 156 00:09:38,920 --> 00:09:41,040 Speaker 1: they were using like a hundred and forty times more 157 00:09:41,120 --> 00:09:45,560 Speaker 1: seeds than was necessary. So to try to make this 158 00:09:45,640 --> 00:09:50,760 Speaker 1: whole process more controlled, quote, I employed people to make channels, 159 00:09:51,000 --> 00:09:55,480 Speaker 1: and so a very small proportion therein and cover it exactly. 160 00:09:56,240 --> 00:09:59,760 Speaker 1: This way succeeded to my desire, and was in seed 161 00:09:59,840 --> 00:10:02,720 Speaker 1: and labor but a fourth part of the expense of 162 00:10:02,720 --> 00:10:05,600 Speaker 1: the common way. And yet the ground of seed was 163 00:10:05,640 --> 00:10:10,040 Speaker 1: better planted ten acres being so well done, I did 164 00:10:10,080 --> 00:10:13,439 Speaker 1: not doubt, but a thousand might have been as well 165 00:10:13,559 --> 00:10:17,760 Speaker 1: done in the same manner. This sounds like a success. 166 00:10:18,080 --> 00:10:21,000 Speaker 1: But the next season, when Tull instructed his workers to 167 00:10:21,480 --> 00:10:24,560 Speaker 1: once again make channels and carefully so the seeds in 168 00:10:24,600 --> 00:10:28,200 Speaker 1: them quote, I discovered that these people had conspired to 169 00:10:28,280 --> 00:10:31,720 Speaker 1: disappoint me for the future, and never to plant a 170 00:10:31,800 --> 00:10:36,120 Speaker 1: row tolerably well. Again, perhaps jealous that if a great 171 00:10:36,160 --> 00:10:38,960 Speaker 1: quantity of land should be taken from the plow, it 172 00:10:39,120 --> 00:10:42,800 Speaker 1: might prove a diminution of their power, I was forced 173 00:10:42,800 --> 00:10:46,760 Speaker 1: to dismiss my laborers, resolving to quit my scheme unless 174 00:10:46,800 --> 00:10:50,599 Speaker 1: I could contrive an engine to plant sainfoin more faithfully 175 00:10:50,880 --> 00:10:54,760 Speaker 1: than such hands would do. In other words, jeth roats 176 00:10:54,760 --> 00:10:57,760 Speaker 1: All concluded that his workers were doing a bad job 177 00:10:57,960 --> 00:11:01,640 Speaker 1: just despite him, so he fired them and decided he 178 00:11:01,679 --> 00:11:05,599 Speaker 1: would make a machine to sew his same point seed. Instead. 179 00:11:06,600 --> 00:11:10,560 Speaker 1: We will talk more about that after a sponsor break. 180 00:11:18,800 --> 00:11:21,680 Speaker 1: Jeffre Tull was not the first person to try to 181 00:11:21,760 --> 00:11:24,240 Speaker 1: use some kind of a tool or a machine to 182 00:11:24,320 --> 00:11:28,240 Speaker 1: plant his crops. I should also know, like we're talking 183 00:11:28,240 --> 00:11:32,320 Speaker 1: about ways to sow large fields of one crop, not 184 00:11:32,480 --> 00:11:35,240 Speaker 1: like a little garden, like a little kitchen garden, where 185 00:11:35,240 --> 00:11:37,160 Speaker 1: you would have a couple of rows of different things, 186 00:11:37,200 --> 00:11:42,040 Speaker 1: like things that require lots of seeds. Basic tools like 187 00:11:42,120 --> 00:11:45,120 Speaker 1: planting sticks used to prepare the soil and plant the 188 00:11:45,160 --> 00:11:48,000 Speaker 1: seeds and dig out root crops. Those have existed around 189 00:11:48,040 --> 00:11:52,400 Speaker 1: the world for millennia. There's evidence of early seed drills 190 00:11:52,480 --> 00:11:55,520 Speaker 1: in China as far back as the second century, but 191 00:11:55,559 --> 00:11:58,520 Speaker 1: it is not clear when or whether those might have 192 00:11:58,559 --> 00:12:02,840 Speaker 1: been introduced into Europe. The first setting boards, which used 193 00:12:02,920 --> 00:12:06,559 Speaker 1: spaced holes to distribute the seeds more evenly, those day 194 00:12:06,600 --> 00:12:10,800 Speaker 1: back to at least sixteen oh one. John Worlidge included 195 00:12:10,840 --> 00:12:14,440 Speaker 1: a design for a seed drill in his systema Agriculture 196 00:12:14,520 --> 00:12:18,080 Speaker 1: in sin but it doesn't appear that he ever actually 197 00:12:18,120 --> 00:12:21,720 Speaker 1: managed to build a working model. The same is true 198 00:12:21,800 --> 00:12:25,240 Speaker 1: for several seed drill designs that were patented in various 199 00:12:25,240 --> 00:12:28,880 Speaker 1: parts of Europe in the late seventeenth century. When Tull 200 00:12:28,960 --> 00:12:32,000 Speaker 1: decided to contrive an engine to plant his same coin, 201 00:12:32,559 --> 00:12:35,400 Speaker 1: he thought about other devices that he was already familiar with, 202 00:12:35,600 --> 00:12:38,680 Speaker 1: writing quote, when I was young, my diversion was music. 203 00:12:39,040 --> 00:12:42,360 Speaker 1: I had also the curiosity to acquaint myself thoroughly with 204 00:12:42,440 --> 00:12:45,280 Speaker 1: the fabric of every part of my organ, but as 205 00:12:45,400 --> 00:12:48,120 Speaker 1: little thinking that ever I should take from thence the 206 00:12:48,200 --> 00:12:52,920 Speaker 1: first rudiments of a drill. After dismissing his workers for 207 00:12:53,040 --> 00:12:57,360 Speaker 1: not sowing the seeds. To his satisfaction, Tull quote examined 208 00:12:57,400 --> 00:13:02,040 Speaker 1: and compared all the mechanical ideas had ever entered my imagination, 209 00:13:02,520 --> 00:13:06,199 Speaker 1: and it last pitched upon a groove, tongue, and spring 210 00:13:06,360 --> 00:13:10,440 Speaker 1: in the soundboard of the organ. With these a little altered, 211 00:13:10,520 --> 00:13:13,959 Speaker 1: and some parts of two other instruments, as far into 212 00:13:13,960 --> 00:13:16,520 Speaker 1: the field as the organ is added to them, I 213 00:13:16,600 --> 00:13:20,600 Speaker 1: composed my machine. It was named a drill because when 214 00:13:20,600 --> 00:13:23,600 Speaker 1: farmers used to sew their beans and peas into channels 215 00:13:23,600 --> 00:13:27,720 Speaker 1: their furrows by hand, they called that action drilling. Tell 216 00:13:27,880 --> 00:13:31,480 Speaker 1: first used this machine in seventeen oh one, and, as 217 00:13:31,520 --> 00:13:34,960 Speaker 1: he wrote decades later, quote, it planted that far much 218 00:13:35,000 --> 00:13:38,840 Speaker 1: better than hands could have done, and many hundred acres besides, 219 00:13:39,440 --> 00:13:43,400 Speaker 1: and thirty years experience shows that same foin thus planted 220 00:13:43,480 --> 00:13:47,920 Speaker 1: brings better crops and lasteth longer than son same foin. 221 00:13:48,679 --> 00:13:52,040 Speaker 1: So this device had a grooved, rotating cylinder that would 222 00:13:52,040 --> 00:13:55,800 Speaker 1: carry the seeds from a hopper above to a funnel underneath. 223 00:13:56,559 --> 00:14:00,080 Speaker 1: The cylinder was also the axle for the drills wheel, 224 00:14:00,160 --> 00:14:03,000 Speaker 1: so it turned as the wheels did. There was a 225 00:14:03,040 --> 00:14:05,680 Speaker 1: plow towards the front of the drill that created a 226 00:14:05,760 --> 00:14:07,800 Speaker 1: channel for the seeds to drop into, and then there 227 00:14:07,920 --> 00:14:10,280 Speaker 1: was a harrow in the back of the drill and 228 00:14:10,320 --> 00:14:13,400 Speaker 1: that covered the seeds up. So this meant that the 229 00:14:13,440 --> 00:14:16,600 Speaker 1: seeds were dropped in a straight line to a specific 230 00:14:16,679 --> 00:14:19,480 Speaker 1: depth and then covered all at once, as long as 231 00:14:19,520 --> 00:14:22,920 Speaker 1: your horse was going in a straight line while pulling it. 232 00:14:23,560 --> 00:14:27,080 Speaker 1: So it's Hall's words, his drill did this quote with 233 00:14:27,280 --> 00:14:32,360 Speaker 1: great exactness and expedition. Tall made various refinements to the 234 00:14:32,400 --> 00:14:35,680 Speaker 1: device itself and how it was used, ultimately ending up 235 00:14:35,680 --> 00:14:38,280 Speaker 1: with a process in which two or three rows of 236 00:14:38,320 --> 00:14:42,360 Speaker 1: plants were planted between eight and ten inches apart. Those 237 00:14:42,360 --> 00:14:44,880 Speaker 1: two or three rows were on ridges that were four 238 00:14:44,920 --> 00:14:47,960 Speaker 1: to six ft apart, leaving enough room for a horse 239 00:14:48,000 --> 00:14:51,720 Speaker 1: to walk down on the field without trampling anything. In 240 00:14:51,880 --> 00:14:55,840 Speaker 1: Tull's mind, this was just a huge improvement over manually 241 00:14:55,960 --> 00:15:01,080 Speaker 1: broadcasting seeds. Even if somebody was pretty good scattering seeds 242 00:15:01,120 --> 00:15:04,000 Speaker 1: by hand, there was typically too much seed in some 243 00:15:04,040 --> 00:15:07,400 Speaker 1: places and too little in others. If the field was 244 00:15:07,560 --> 00:15:10,760 Speaker 1: furrowed ahead of time to accommodate the seeds, some of 245 00:15:10,760 --> 00:15:13,680 Speaker 1: the seeds landed in the furrows, but other ones didn't. 246 00:15:14,560 --> 00:15:17,160 Speaker 1: Seed that was too deep in the soil might not 247 00:15:17,280 --> 00:15:19,520 Speaker 1: grow as well, and if it was too shallow it 248 00:15:19,600 --> 00:15:23,000 Speaker 1: was more likely to be eaten by birds. Planting in 249 00:15:23,200 --> 00:15:26,080 Speaker 1: rows also made it easier to get into the field 250 00:15:26,080 --> 00:15:28,720 Speaker 1: to check on the crop and to remove weeds and 251 00:15:28,800 --> 00:15:32,720 Speaker 1: to harvest, and as Tull noted, a field that was 252 00:15:32,760 --> 00:15:36,760 Speaker 1: fully planted with this method required far fewer seeds than 253 00:15:36,840 --> 00:15:40,680 Speaker 1: manual broadcasting did. But other farmers who saw what he 254 00:15:40,720 --> 00:15:43,760 Speaker 1: was doing, a lot of them thought he was letting 255 00:15:43,800 --> 00:15:46,800 Speaker 1: a lot of plantable land go to waste by leaving 256 00:15:46,840 --> 00:15:49,560 Speaker 1: these four to six foot gaps in between his rows. 257 00:15:50,320 --> 00:15:53,800 Speaker 1: Tell farmed in Oxfordshire for about ten years before moving 258 00:15:54,040 --> 00:15:57,600 Speaker 1: to Prosperous Farm in Shelburne, Berkshire, which was another farm 259 00:15:57,640 --> 00:16:00,520 Speaker 1: that had been in the Tall family, and sometime in 260 00:16:00,560 --> 00:16:04,040 Speaker 1: the early seventeen teens he traveled to Italy and France 261 00:16:04,080 --> 00:16:07,160 Speaker 1: for the sake of his health. He returned to England 262 00:16:07,280 --> 00:16:10,360 Speaker 1: after somewhere between two and four years, but these dates 263 00:16:10,400 --> 00:16:13,440 Speaker 1: are again unclear, with the only clue to try to 264 00:16:13,480 --> 00:16:16,360 Speaker 1: pin it down being the baptism of his daughter Sarah 265 00:16:16,400 --> 00:16:21,200 Speaker 1: in October of set Something That's whole noticed while in 266 00:16:21,240 --> 00:16:25,520 Speaker 1: Italy and France was how carefully the vineyards were planted 267 00:16:25,560 --> 00:16:29,480 Speaker 1: and managed. The soil in between the rows was carefully 268 00:16:29,560 --> 00:16:33,720 Speaker 1: tilled to the point of being pulverized, and workers meticulously 269 00:16:33,880 --> 00:16:37,880 Speaker 1: hoed the earth around the plants as well. Tall came 270 00:16:37,920 --> 00:16:42,480 Speaker 1: to the conclusion that this pulverized soil was providing more 271 00:16:42,720 --> 00:16:48,200 Speaker 1: nutrients to the plants. Basically, he thought that the soil itself, 272 00:16:48,760 --> 00:16:52,800 Speaker 1: tiny tiny particles of soil were what the plants were 273 00:16:52,800 --> 00:16:56,760 Speaker 1: eating through what he called lacteal mouths on their roots. 274 00:16:57,640 --> 00:17:01,200 Speaker 1: He decided that soil, and only soil, was what plants 275 00:17:01,200 --> 00:17:04,520 Speaker 1: needed to survive, not something in the soil, not water, 276 00:17:04,680 --> 00:17:10,280 Speaker 1: not air, not sunlight, just very very finely tilled soil. 277 00:17:11,080 --> 00:17:13,840 Speaker 1: In his mind, the roll of water in this equation 278 00:17:13,920 --> 00:17:18,399 Speaker 1: was to carry the tiny soil particles closer to those 279 00:17:18,480 --> 00:17:22,520 Speaker 1: lacteal mouths. The cartoon that has formed in my head 280 00:17:22,600 --> 00:17:27,439 Speaker 1: is so delightful right now. Tall decided to try pulverizing 281 00:17:27,440 --> 00:17:30,840 Speaker 1: the soil around his crops it prosperous farm, where much 282 00:17:30,880 --> 00:17:34,480 Speaker 1: of the land was relatively shallow and chalky. He developed 283 00:17:34,480 --> 00:17:37,359 Speaker 1: a horse drawn plow for this purpose, using it in 284 00:17:37,440 --> 00:17:41,240 Speaker 1: that gap between his rows while workers manually hod the 285 00:17:41,280 --> 00:17:45,680 Speaker 1: soil around the plants themselves. He thought new roots had 286 00:17:45,760 --> 00:17:48,520 Speaker 1: more mouths than old roots, so if a plant's roots 287 00:17:48,520 --> 00:17:51,760 Speaker 1: were broken by all this hoeing, that was okay. It 288 00:17:51,920 --> 00:17:54,520 Speaker 1: just meant new roots would grow in to replace them, 289 00:17:54,560 --> 00:17:59,119 Speaker 1: complete with more mouths. Tall tried this method on several 290 00:17:59,119 --> 00:18:03,520 Speaker 1: different crops that farm, including turnips, potatoes, and wheat, and 291 00:18:03,520 --> 00:18:06,800 Speaker 1: he reported that it was enormously successful in terms of 292 00:18:06,840 --> 00:18:10,800 Speaker 1: efficiency and yield, and as a bonus, it allowed him 293 00:18:10,840 --> 00:18:13,720 Speaker 1: to replace some of his higher paid workers with women 294 00:18:13,720 --> 00:18:16,440 Speaker 1: and children who he could pay a lot less, since 295 00:18:16,480 --> 00:18:20,159 Speaker 1: their jobs mostly involved moving clods of dirt out of 296 00:18:20,200 --> 00:18:22,600 Speaker 1: the way if they fell in a bad spot after plowing, 297 00:18:23,400 --> 00:18:28,000 Speaker 1: and in his opinion, this method eliminated the need for manure, 298 00:18:28,560 --> 00:18:31,640 Speaker 1: something he was extremely pleased about since he thought manure 299 00:18:31,800 --> 00:18:35,600 Speaker 1: spread weeds. He claimed that this method allowed him to 300 00:18:35,640 --> 00:18:38,840 Speaker 1: grow wheat in the same field for thirteen years without 301 00:18:38,920 --> 00:18:43,240 Speaker 1: using manure or allowing the soil to lie fallow. He said, quote, 302 00:18:43,359 --> 00:18:46,440 Speaker 1: the finer land is made by tillage, the richer will 303 00:18:46,480 --> 00:18:49,600 Speaker 1: it become, and the more plants will it maintain, or 304 00:18:49,800 --> 00:18:54,639 Speaker 1: more briefly, tillage is manure. So to be fair, the 305 00:18:54,760 --> 00:18:58,080 Speaker 1: details about how plants grew and what it took to 306 00:18:58,160 --> 00:19:01,639 Speaker 1: nourish them were poorly under stood in Britain at this point. 307 00:19:02,240 --> 00:19:05,879 Speaker 1: All around the world for the whole history of agriculture, 308 00:19:05,960 --> 00:19:10,560 Speaker 1: people had been using techniques like crop rotation, planting different 309 00:19:10,600 --> 00:19:14,800 Speaker 1: types of plants together, and using things like manure, urine, 310 00:19:14,880 --> 00:19:18,679 Speaker 1: fish parts, and other materials to restore the soil. But 311 00:19:18,760 --> 00:19:22,240 Speaker 1: while people knew that these steps usually led to a 312 00:19:22,280 --> 00:19:26,639 Speaker 1: better harvest, they didn't know why they worked exactly. Today 313 00:19:26,640 --> 00:19:30,439 Speaker 1: we understand that specific nutrients are critical to plant growth, 314 00:19:30,720 --> 00:19:36,000 Speaker 1: especially phosphorus, potassium, and nitrogen, but when Tall was farming, 315 00:19:36,240 --> 00:19:41,560 Speaker 1: only phosphorus had even been discovered. Europeans also only had 316 00:19:41,560 --> 00:19:45,920 Speaker 1: a partial understanding of photosynthesis, and as we noted earlier, 317 00:19:46,000 --> 00:19:49,160 Speaker 1: a lot of the conventional farming wisdom was drawn from 318 00:19:49,280 --> 00:19:53,000 Speaker 1: Virgil that was more than seventeen hundred years old. That 319 00:19:53,040 --> 00:19:56,920 Speaker 1: doesn't mean it was necessarily bad. It's just been around 320 00:19:56,960 --> 00:19:59,800 Speaker 1: for a really long time. Did not have the benefit 321 00:19:59,840 --> 00:20:04,879 Speaker 1: of newly developed ideas and discoveries. Right, But even with 322 00:20:04,920 --> 00:20:08,040 Speaker 1: all of that in mind, tells ideas about plants being 323 00:20:08,080 --> 00:20:12,000 Speaker 1: better able to consume very fine particles of pulverized soil, 324 00:20:12,359 --> 00:20:16,639 Speaker 1: we're just not correct. His intensive hoeing definitely helped remove 325 00:20:16,720 --> 00:20:19,600 Speaker 1: weeds that would have competed with his crops for nutrients, 326 00:20:19,920 --> 00:20:23,520 Speaker 1: and it probably allowed water to penetrate more easily, especially 327 00:20:23,520 --> 00:20:26,879 Speaker 1: if rainfall, and do meant that that soil never totally 328 00:20:27,000 --> 00:20:30,399 Speaker 1: dried out. But he was not making it easier for 329 00:20:30,480 --> 00:20:34,440 Speaker 1: plants to take in soil particles through these tiny theoretical 330 00:20:34,520 --> 00:20:37,920 Speaker 1: root mouths, and hoeing definitely did not take the place 331 00:20:37,960 --> 00:20:42,320 Speaker 1: of replenishing the soils. Nutrients was something like manure. Yeah, 332 00:20:42,359 --> 00:20:44,639 Speaker 1: I think a big reason that he was able to 333 00:20:44,680 --> 00:20:46,520 Speaker 1: make that thirteen years of wheat in the same field 334 00:20:46,600 --> 00:20:49,200 Speaker 1: number one. We're taking his word on that, right, but 335 00:20:49,280 --> 00:20:51,879 Speaker 1: it was still as great in year thirteen as it 336 00:20:51,920 --> 00:20:54,359 Speaker 1: had been in year one. But the fact that he 337 00:20:54,400 --> 00:20:56,879 Speaker 1: had these big spaces in his rose probably meant that 338 00:20:56,920 --> 00:20:59,000 Speaker 1: the soil was not being exhausted as it would have 339 00:20:59,000 --> 00:21:02,040 Speaker 1: been if it had been packed more tightly together with plants. 340 00:21:03,200 --> 00:21:06,720 Speaker 1: In one Tell published some of his ideas in a 341 00:21:06,760 --> 00:21:11,320 Speaker 1: work called The New horse Hoeing Husbandry, or an Essay 342 00:21:11,320 --> 00:21:14,800 Speaker 1: on the Principles of Tillage and Vegetation, wherein is shown 343 00:21:14,840 --> 00:21:18,240 Speaker 1: a method of introducing a sort of vineyard culture into 344 00:21:18,280 --> 00:21:21,919 Speaker 1: the corn fields. He called this a specimen. It was 345 00:21:21,960 --> 00:21:25,040 Speaker 1: something that he planned to expand on in a longer work. 346 00:21:25,720 --> 00:21:29,359 Speaker 1: Tell nearly abandoned this plan after a plagiarized version of 347 00:21:29,400 --> 00:21:32,560 Speaker 1: his essay showed up not long after. He claimed his 348 00:21:32,840 --> 00:21:36,160 Speaker 1: was the first book on agriculture ever to be so pirated. 349 00:21:36,840 --> 00:21:39,840 Speaker 1: But regardless, his friends encouraged him to continue on, and 350 00:21:39,880 --> 00:21:43,040 Speaker 1: in seventeen thirty three he published the much longer The 351 00:21:43,119 --> 00:21:46,399 Speaker 1: horse Hoeing Husbandry, or An Essay on the Principles of 352 00:21:46,440 --> 00:21:50,000 Speaker 1: Tillage and Vegetation, designed to introduce a new method of 353 00:21:50,040 --> 00:21:53,240 Speaker 1: culture whereby the produce of land will be increased and 354 00:21:53,240 --> 00:21:57,479 Speaker 1: the usual expense lessened, together with accurate descriptions and cuts 355 00:21:57,480 --> 00:22:01,399 Speaker 1: of the instruments employed in it. Uh, not everybody was 356 00:22:01,440 --> 00:22:05,080 Speaker 1: happy about this. We will talk about it after a 357 00:22:05,119 --> 00:22:19,440 Speaker 1: sponsor break. Jeffrey Tells book The Horse Hoeing Husbandry explained 358 00:22:19,480 --> 00:22:22,280 Speaker 1: his process for planting and hoeing the fields and his 359 00:22:22,359 --> 00:22:26,199 Speaker 1: reasoning behind it. It included diagrams of the equipment that 360 00:22:26,240 --> 00:22:29,760 Speaker 1: a farmer would need for such an enterprise, with explanations 361 00:22:29,760 --> 00:22:32,560 Speaker 1: of what the parts of those machines did and how 362 00:22:32,600 --> 00:22:36,119 Speaker 1: they worked. There were different seed drills for different types 363 00:22:36,160 --> 00:22:40,000 Speaker 1: of crops, plus horse drawn hose and other tools, all 364 00:22:40,119 --> 00:22:43,800 Speaker 1: of his design. This on its own would have caused 365 00:22:43,840 --> 00:22:47,680 Speaker 1: at least some controversy. The upfront cost for equipment would 366 00:22:47,680 --> 00:22:51,720 Speaker 1: have been significant, especially since manufacturing methods had not progressed 367 00:22:51,760 --> 00:22:53,600 Speaker 1: to the point that things like this could really be 368 00:22:53,680 --> 00:22:57,760 Speaker 1: mass produced. You would need experienced craftspeople who could build 369 00:22:57,800 --> 00:23:01,920 Speaker 1: the machines mostly from scratch. Plus a lot of farmers 370 00:23:01,960 --> 00:23:04,760 Speaker 1: still found that six foot gap between rows to just 371 00:23:04,920 --> 00:23:09,320 Speaker 1: be incredibly wasteful. Beyond all that, though, Tall also took 372 00:23:09,320 --> 00:23:13,600 Speaker 1: the time in his book to criticize existing farming practices, 373 00:23:13,640 --> 00:23:18,639 Speaker 1: which he framed as old husbandry or even bad husbandry. 374 00:23:18,920 --> 00:23:22,480 Speaker 1: His own method was the new husbandry or the good husbandry, 375 00:23:22,520 --> 00:23:27,160 Speaker 1: and at times he took aim directly at Virgil, criticizing 376 00:23:27,280 --> 00:23:30,440 Speaker 1: Virgil's recommendations for how to do things like plow burn 377 00:23:30,640 --> 00:23:35,760 Speaker 1: until the land gardner and nurseryman Stephen Switzer, was particularly 378 00:23:35,760 --> 00:23:38,880 Speaker 1: outraged by all of this. It's possible that at least 379 00:23:38,880 --> 00:23:41,359 Speaker 1: some of his outrage stemmed from the fact that part 380 00:23:41,400 --> 00:23:45,119 Speaker 1: of his income came from selling seeds, so if everyone 381 00:23:45,200 --> 00:23:48,080 Speaker 1: started using methods that required just a fraction of their 382 00:23:48,119 --> 00:23:52,520 Speaker 1: normal seed purchases, that would damage his business. But he 383 00:23:52,560 --> 00:23:56,320 Speaker 1: also seems to have been incensed on principle, seeing Virgil's 384 00:23:56,320 --> 00:23:59,359 Speaker 1: work as the foundation of good husbandry that had quote 385 00:23:59,600 --> 00:24:03,399 Speaker 1: stood the test of so many ages, and probably seeing 386 00:24:03,520 --> 00:24:05,840 Speaker 1: Virgil himself as a man who should not have to 387 00:24:05,880 --> 00:24:11,640 Speaker 1: face this kind of insolence. So Switzer established a private 388 00:24:11,760 --> 00:24:16,679 Speaker 1: society of husbandmen and planters and opposition to tell although 389 00:24:16,720 --> 00:24:20,160 Speaker 1: it's not clear how many members there were besides Switzer, 390 00:24:20,240 --> 00:24:25,200 Speaker 1: if any. He accused Tull of plagiarizing John Worlidge as 391 00:24:25,200 --> 00:24:29,720 Speaker 1: well as earlier agricultural writers. Switzer also pointed out specific 392 00:24:29,800 --> 00:24:33,520 Speaker 1: flaws that he saw in Tull's ideas. For example, it 393 00:24:33,600 --> 00:24:37,480 Speaker 1: was quote ridiculous to affirm that one and the same 394 00:24:37,560 --> 00:24:40,520 Speaker 1: culture and one in the same kind of manure is 395 00:24:40,560 --> 00:24:44,720 Speaker 1: common to all sorts of land. Switzer even accused Tull 396 00:24:44,800 --> 00:24:48,919 Speaker 1: of being an atheist. Oh the very worst. Switzer published 397 00:24:49,119 --> 00:24:53,240 Speaker 1: Practical Husbandman and Planter, or Observations on the Ancient and 398 00:24:53,320 --> 00:24:57,680 Speaker 1: Modern Husbandry, Planting and Gardening over a series of installments. 399 00:24:58,320 --> 00:25:02,160 Speaker 1: These volumes layout switzers i ideas of good husbandry, many 400 00:25:02,200 --> 00:25:05,920 Speaker 1: of which were drawn from Virgil, and they directly criticized 401 00:25:05,960 --> 00:25:08,920 Speaker 1: Toll's work as well as criticizing Toll as a person. 402 00:25:09,680 --> 00:25:12,320 Speaker 1: Here is a sample quote. If men are known by 403 00:25:12,320 --> 00:25:15,120 Speaker 1: their words as a tree is by its fruit, there 404 00:25:15,200 --> 00:25:18,760 Speaker 1: never was a man who has distinguished himself more than 405 00:25:18,800 --> 00:25:22,800 Speaker 1: the author of the horse hoeing husbandry has. The deepest 406 00:25:22,880 --> 00:25:26,280 Speaker 1: rivers are generally allowed to be the most silent, and 407 00:25:26,320 --> 00:25:28,879 Speaker 1: the greatest noise is ever found where there is the 408 00:25:29,000 --> 00:25:32,199 Speaker 1: least depth of water. And it is the general but 409 00:25:32,359 --> 00:25:36,440 Speaker 1: true observation that those who are weakest in understanding are 410 00:25:36,480 --> 00:25:40,879 Speaker 1: the strongest in opinion. This author has, by uttering his 411 00:25:41,000 --> 00:25:45,400 Speaker 1: precipitate and crude conceptions, discovered himself to be little better 412 00:25:45,480 --> 00:25:48,320 Speaker 1: than the animal in the fable who, putting on the 413 00:25:48,359 --> 00:25:52,200 Speaker 1: lion's skin, terrified all the beasts of the forest till 414 00:25:52,240 --> 00:25:56,160 Speaker 1: by his voice, they knew who he was. Handsome, very 415 00:25:56,160 --> 00:26:01,119 Speaker 1: clear opinions about Jethro Tall, So Jethro It's all. Responded 416 00:26:01,200 --> 00:26:05,520 Speaker 1: to Switzer's many criticisms with a supplement to the Essay 417 00:26:05,560 --> 00:26:09,960 Speaker 1: on horse Hoeing Husbandry in seventy six. This he tried 418 00:26:10,000 --> 00:26:13,840 Speaker 1: to refute Switzer point by point. He called the society 419 00:26:13,880 --> 00:26:18,520 Speaker 1: of husbandmen and planters the equivocal society, or just Equivocus 420 00:26:18,520 --> 00:26:23,160 Speaker 1: disappeared in later editions of horse Hoeing Husbandry, as Jethro 421 00:26:23,320 --> 00:26:27,840 Speaker 1: tells supplement answering the objections of Equivocus in defense of Virgil. 422 00:26:28,720 --> 00:26:34,280 Speaker 1: Among his points, quote Equivocus falsely accuses Tall of disrespect 423 00:26:34,400 --> 00:26:37,520 Speaker 1: and not finding one useful truth in the Georgic. By 424 00:26:37,600 --> 00:26:42,320 Speaker 1: quoting falsely, Equivocus does not prove his case. I feel 425 00:26:42,320 --> 00:26:45,920 Speaker 1: like these two men would have loved Twitter, but that's 426 00:26:46,640 --> 00:26:49,480 Speaker 1: I'm imagining, like one of the like a tumbler fight 427 00:26:49,640 --> 00:26:55,280 Speaker 1: where going on forever. Switzer was not though the only 428 00:26:55,320 --> 00:26:59,359 Speaker 1: person Tell was not getting along with Jethro's son, John 429 00:26:59,640 --> 00:27:02,879 Speaker 1: was stravagant in his spending, and his relationship to his 430 00:27:02,960 --> 00:27:07,560 Speaker 1: family seems to have become strained after Tell died on 431 00:27:07,600 --> 00:27:11,479 Speaker 1: February seventeen forty one, at the age of sixty six. 432 00:27:11,880 --> 00:27:14,480 Speaker 1: He left his property to his sister in law and 433 00:27:14,600 --> 00:27:19,160 Speaker 1: his daughter's but he left John only a shilling. John 434 00:27:19,240 --> 00:27:22,720 Speaker 1: ultimately died in the Debtors prison in seventeen sixty four. 435 00:27:23,560 --> 00:27:27,280 Speaker 1: Jethro Tull was widely read and hotly debated from the 436 00:27:27,280 --> 00:27:30,040 Speaker 1: seventeen thirties until the end of his life in seventeen 437 00:27:30,080 --> 00:27:33,640 Speaker 1: forty one, but after his death most of his techniques 438 00:27:33,680 --> 00:27:35,320 Speaker 1: sort of fell out of favor for a time, at 439 00:27:35,400 --> 00:27:39,600 Speaker 1: least in Britain. His work was translated into French, although 440 00:27:39,640 --> 00:27:42,960 Speaker 1: the French translations mostly focused on the techniques that were 441 00:27:43,000 --> 00:27:46,720 Speaker 1: most demonstrably workable and not on the things that seemed 442 00:27:46,760 --> 00:27:51,880 Speaker 1: a little more far fetched. The roots have mouths. Tell's 443 00:27:52,000 --> 00:27:54,800 Speaker 1: legacy as a farmer is kind of a mixed bag. 444 00:27:55,040 --> 00:27:57,359 Speaker 1: In the words of th. H. Marshall, writing in the 445 00:27:57,440 --> 00:28:02,320 Speaker 1: Economic History Review in nine quote, he had apparently, first 446 00:28:02,359 --> 00:28:06,159 Speaker 1: of allved his system of husbandry, then invented a scientific 447 00:28:06,200 --> 00:28:09,600 Speaker 1: theory to explain it, and finally begun to study the 448 00:28:09,640 --> 00:28:15,919 Speaker 1: literature of his subject. Overall, Marshall's analysis of Tull's agricultural reforms, 449 00:28:16,240 --> 00:28:20,199 Speaker 1: it's not favorable. He wrote, quote, posterity is apt to 450 00:28:20,240 --> 00:28:24,639 Speaker 1: be overkind to the inventor. It remembers only those of 451 00:28:24,720 --> 00:28:27,639 Speaker 1: his ideas which have been incorporated in the life of 452 00:28:27,680 --> 00:28:31,640 Speaker 1: the present, and forgets all those which time has rejected. 453 00:28:32,440 --> 00:28:36,400 Speaker 1: It assumes that his mistakes and false notions were due 454 00:28:36,480 --> 00:28:39,520 Speaker 1: to the ignorance of his age, rather than to his 455 00:28:39,600 --> 00:28:45,920 Speaker 1: own incompetence, and convicts of pusillanimity those of his contemporaries 456 00:28:45,960 --> 00:28:49,880 Speaker 1: who hesitated to follow his inspiration, shedding his errors as 457 00:28:49,920 --> 00:28:53,880 Speaker 1: they traveled onwards. And so it is with Tull. But 458 00:28:53,960 --> 00:28:57,920 Speaker 1: the picture is false. His mistakes were not those of 459 00:28:58,000 --> 00:29:01,920 Speaker 1: his age. The experts of his could and did denounce 460 00:29:02,040 --> 00:29:05,840 Speaker 1: them as mistakes. The bad elements in his system were 461 00:29:05,880 --> 00:29:10,040 Speaker 1: not merely traditions from the past which he was not 462 00:29:10,200 --> 00:29:14,000 Speaker 1: yet ready to throw aside. They were new. He was 463 00:29:14,040 --> 00:29:16,960 Speaker 1: asking men to make a revolution in order to adopt 464 00:29:17,000 --> 00:29:21,440 Speaker 1: what was unsound. It is not surprising that they hesitated. 465 00:29:22,160 --> 00:29:25,480 Speaker 1: A lot of Toll's ideas were just wildly incorrect. But 466 00:29:25,960 --> 00:29:29,040 Speaker 1: there were elements to his work that were useful and 467 00:29:29,080 --> 00:29:32,600 Speaker 1: withstood the test of time, like developing ways to plant 468 00:29:32,640 --> 00:29:37,040 Speaker 1: fields more uniformly and efficiently in wasting less seed. In 469 00:29:37,160 --> 00:29:40,880 Speaker 1: seventeen sixty two, the London based Society for the Encouragement 470 00:29:40,880 --> 00:29:44,760 Speaker 1: of Arts, Manufacturers and Commerce established a medal for people 471 00:29:44,760 --> 00:29:48,080 Speaker 1: who improved on the seed drill and who tested methods 472 00:29:48,120 --> 00:29:52,120 Speaker 1: of old and new husbandry to determine what worked best 473 00:29:52,200 --> 00:29:55,480 Speaker 1: and what didn't. Tull was also part of what came 474 00:29:55,520 --> 00:29:58,840 Speaker 1: to be known as the agricultural revolution in Britain, as 475 00:29:58,880 --> 00:30:03,720 Speaker 1: people developed in proved ways to prepare the soil, plants, tenned, 476 00:30:03,800 --> 00:30:08,000 Speaker 1: and harvest. This ran alongside the enclosure movement, in which 477 00:30:08,080 --> 00:30:12,680 Speaker 1: previously common land was enclosed in fences and small farms 478 00:30:12,720 --> 00:30:16,080 Speaker 1: were consolidated into large estates that were controlled by one 479 00:30:16,760 --> 00:30:20,600 Speaker 1: wealthy landlord, often one who wanted very large fields of 480 00:30:20,600 --> 00:30:23,680 Speaker 1: a single crop to be sold for the best possible price. 481 00:30:24,520 --> 00:30:27,840 Speaker 1: Apart from changes in land use and animal husbandry, the 482 00:30:27,880 --> 00:30:31,840 Speaker 1: agricultural revolution was also connected to the development of machines 483 00:30:31,960 --> 00:30:37,240 Speaker 1: like improved plows, cultivators, threshers and tull seed drill. Through 484 00:30:37,360 --> 00:30:41,720 Speaker 1: all these developments, between seventeen hundred and eighteen seventy, British 485 00:30:41,760 --> 00:30:46,040 Speaker 1: farms became about four times more productive. This led to 486 00:30:46,080 --> 00:30:48,760 Speaker 1: a drop in food prices and an increase in the 487 00:30:48,840 --> 00:30:53,240 Speaker 1: varieties of food available. Improvements and food preservation played a 488 00:30:53,280 --> 00:30:56,560 Speaker 1: part in all of this as well. All this contributed 489 00:30:56,600 --> 00:31:00,840 Speaker 1: to an increasing in population. Just in the eighteenth century, 490 00:31:00,960 --> 00:31:05,480 Speaker 1: the population of England and Wales almost doubled. We should 491 00:31:05,520 --> 00:31:09,440 Speaker 1: note that this increase in food production did not eliminate 492 00:31:09,560 --> 00:31:13,360 Speaker 1: poverty or famine. The Great Famine in Ireland, which we've 493 00:31:13,400 --> 00:31:16,160 Speaker 1: covered in a two part episode of the podcast, took 494 00:31:16,160 --> 00:31:19,680 Speaker 1: place during this same time, but the issue in this 495 00:31:19,800 --> 00:31:23,120 Speaker 1: spamine was not a lack of food. There was plenty 496 00:31:23,240 --> 00:31:27,400 Speaker 1: of food being grown for export, but a blight killed 497 00:31:27,400 --> 00:31:30,840 Speaker 1: the potato crop that Irish farmers were living off of 498 00:31:30,920 --> 00:31:34,520 Speaker 1: while growing other food to be sold, and the government's 499 00:31:34,600 --> 00:31:36,960 Speaker 1: lay say fair approach to the crisis led to the 500 00:31:37,040 --> 00:31:40,720 Speaker 1: food continuing to be exported even as the people who 501 00:31:40,720 --> 00:31:44,600 Speaker 1: were growing it we're starving. Even as the agricultural revolution 502 00:31:44,720 --> 00:31:47,120 Speaker 1: led to more and more food being grown in Britain's 503 00:31:47,160 --> 00:31:51,120 Speaker 1: rural areas, more of its population moved into the cities 504 00:31:51,520 --> 00:31:54,400 Speaker 1: because the time and labor saving devices and methods that 505 00:31:54,400 --> 00:31:57,000 Speaker 1: were being developed meant that farmers could do more with 506 00:31:57,080 --> 00:32:01,320 Speaker 1: fewer workers. As the agricultural revel lution intersected with the 507 00:32:01,360 --> 00:32:05,680 Speaker 1: Industrial Revolution, former rural farm workers, many of whom had 508 00:32:05,680 --> 00:32:08,120 Speaker 1: lost access to land they had been using after it 509 00:32:08,120 --> 00:32:12,240 Speaker 1: was enclosed, started to find jobs in urban factories instead. 510 00:32:13,000 --> 00:32:16,360 Speaker 1: One of the biggest points of overlap between the Agricultural 511 00:32:16,480 --> 00:32:21,040 Speaker 1: Revolution and the Industrial Revolution was the cotton gin, patented 512 00:32:21,040 --> 00:32:26,320 Speaker 1: by Eli Whitney in sevent and totally shifting the cotton industry. 513 00:32:26,440 --> 00:32:30,440 Speaker 1: The cotton gin made harvested cotton much easier to clean, 514 00:32:30,560 --> 00:32:33,560 Speaker 1: which made it more profitable to grow, which led growers 515 00:32:33,600 --> 00:32:35,960 Speaker 1: to want to plant more of it, which created a 516 00:32:36,000 --> 00:32:39,440 Speaker 1: demand for more and more enslaved workers in places like 517 00:32:39,480 --> 00:32:43,520 Speaker 1: the American South, where cotton became a primary crop. Tells 518 00:32:43,600 --> 00:32:48,680 Speaker 1: planting methods for efficiency purposes also fed into this process 519 00:32:48,680 --> 00:32:52,880 Speaker 1: with cotton. As for Jethro Tull's most famous invention, the 520 00:32:52,960 --> 00:32:56,080 Speaker 1: seed drill did not become a reliable or practical part 521 00:32:56,120 --> 00:33:00,640 Speaker 1: of farming until the nineteenth century, when improved manufacturing processes 522 00:33:01,040 --> 00:33:04,920 Speaker 1: led to a model that was practical, affordable, and generally reliable. 523 00:33:05,680 --> 00:33:09,120 Speaker 1: Wheel write James Smith of Suffolk developed a model along 524 00:33:09,120 --> 00:33:11,880 Speaker 1: with his sons, which became known as the Suffolk drill 525 00:33:11,960 --> 00:33:15,040 Speaker 1: and was available for five pounds in eighteen fifty one. 526 00:33:15,840 --> 00:33:19,200 Speaker 1: It could sow multiple rows at once with adjustable spacing 527 00:33:19,240 --> 00:33:21,680 Speaker 1: between the rows, and it had a manure box to 528 00:33:21,760 --> 00:33:25,400 Speaker 1: apply manure at the same time. The depth and rate 529 00:33:25,440 --> 00:33:29,040 Speaker 1: of sewing were adjustable as well. These did not follow 530 00:33:29,120 --> 00:33:31,840 Speaker 1: tolls template of two to three rows in ridges four 531 00:33:31,880 --> 00:33:35,520 Speaker 1: to six ft apart. Many drilled ten to twelve rows 532 00:33:35,560 --> 00:33:38,880 Speaker 1: of seeds at once. Yeah, they're pretty cool to watch, 533 00:33:39,040 --> 00:33:41,880 Speaker 1: which I was very much enjoying watching on all of 534 00:33:41,920 --> 00:33:46,240 Speaker 1: these BBC historic farm shows. I also enjoyed watching them 535 00:33:46,280 --> 00:33:49,479 Speaker 1: throw there. I think they were they were planting I 536 00:33:49,480 --> 00:33:53,400 Speaker 1: think field peas when they were sowing the seeds by 537 00:33:53,440 --> 00:33:57,120 Speaker 1: manually broadcasting them then leading me to just go down 538 00:33:57,160 --> 00:34:01,560 Speaker 1: this whole jeth throw toll rabbit hole. What you got 539 00:34:01,560 --> 00:34:04,680 Speaker 1: in the way? A listener mail? I have listener mail 540 00:34:04,720 --> 00:34:09,200 Speaker 1: about Gin from Kendall. Kendall said, Hi, Tracy and Holly. 541 00:34:09,239 --> 00:34:11,200 Speaker 1: I came across your show a few weeks back and 542 00:34:11,320 --> 00:34:14,240 Speaker 1: absolutely love it. The details you share, you're back and forth, 543 00:34:14,280 --> 00:34:16,080 Speaker 1: and the way you always seem to shed light on 544 00:34:16,120 --> 00:34:20,000 Speaker 1: important issues related to historical events. It's all wonderful. My 545 00:34:20,080 --> 00:34:22,920 Speaker 1: first episode was actually the one about vacuum cleaners. I 546 00:34:22,960 --> 00:34:25,520 Speaker 1: found this episode so fascinating, and I've been listening to 547 00:34:25,680 --> 00:34:28,600 Speaker 1: new and past episodes every moment I'm not chasing my 548 00:34:28,719 --> 00:34:32,360 Speaker 1: three year old around. Last week's episode about Gin finally 549 00:34:32,360 --> 00:34:35,080 Speaker 1: gave me something interesting to write to you about. As 550 00:34:35,080 --> 00:34:37,640 Speaker 1: you were talking about how you could not find any 551 00:34:37,840 --> 00:34:41,360 Speaker 1: neighbor to try, you mentioned the small painted houses that 552 00:34:41,520 --> 00:34:45,160 Speaker 1: Klem gives to business class passengers and that they're filled 553 00:34:45,200 --> 00:34:48,600 Speaker 1: with your neighbor. I dropped the large clippers I was 554 00:34:48,640 --> 00:34:50,560 Speaker 1: using to trim my trees outside when I heard this, 555 00:34:50,640 --> 00:34:54,360 Speaker 1: because I have one of those small ceramic painted houses. 556 00:34:54,960 --> 00:34:57,160 Speaker 1: My husband and I were flying back from Sweden to 557 00:34:57,280 --> 00:35:01,120 Speaker 1: visit family in the US back in on a Kalem flight. 558 00:35:01,719 --> 00:35:03,759 Speaker 1: Our son was four months old at the time, his 559 00:35:03,920 --> 00:35:06,960 Speaker 1: first flight. Every attendant on the flight was so kind 560 00:35:07,000 --> 00:35:10,040 Speaker 1: to us and all were like, hello, welcome, you're our 561 00:35:10,160 --> 00:35:13,120 Speaker 1: baby flyer. Before we got off the plane, they gave 562 00:35:13,200 --> 00:35:15,840 Speaker 1: us a card in one of the beautiful, tiny painted 563 00:35:15,960 --> 00:35:19,439 Speaker 1: Delf houses and memory of our son's first airplane flight. 564 00:35:19,960 --> 00:35:21,960 Speaker 1: When the attendant told us it was filled with Jen 565 00:35:22,040 --> 00:35:25,200 Speaker 1: probably lacking the time to inevitably explain to us what 566 00:35:25,239 --> 00:35:27,960 Speaker 1: your neighbor was when asked. Now that I know this 567 00:35:28,080 --> 00:35:30,600 Speaker 1: Delt house is filled with this unusual spirit. I can't 568 00:35:30,640 --> 00:35:32,799 Speaker 1: wait to pop it open and try it. The collectible 569 00:35:32,800 --> 00:35:35,880 Speaker 1: sits on a glass shelf with some other meetingful mementos 570 00:35:35,920 --> 00:35:38,399 Speaker 1: in our house. Now having moved back to the US, 571 00:35:39,200 --> 00:35:41,400 Speaker 1: it reminds us of better times traveling with our little 572 00:35:41,400 --> 00:35:44,480 Speaker 1: one and having happy interactions with others in public, two 573 00:35:44,560 --> 00:35:47,880 Speaker 1: better times. Thanks for your wonderful show, Kendall. Thank you 574 00:35:47,920 --> 00:35:51,480 Speaker 1: so much for this email, Kendle. We've gotten several emails 575 00:35:51,800 --> 00:35:55,279 Speaker 1: from folks about those Blue Kalem houses and all of 576 00:35:55,320 --> 00:35:58,719 Speaker 1: them have been really delightful, So thank you so much. 577 00:35:58,760 --> 00:36:01,799 Speaker 1: If you would like to write to us about this 578 00:36:01,920 --> 00:36:04,680 Speaker 1: or any other podcast, where a history podcast at i 579 00:36:04,760 --> 00:36:08,080 Speaker 1: heart radio dot com. We're all over social media at 580 00:36:08,080 --> 00:36:10,680 Speaker 1: miss in History. That's where you'll find our Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, 581 00:36:10,719 --> 00:36:13,520 Speaker 1: in Instagram, and you can subscribe to our show on 582 00:36:13,600 --> 00:36:16,880 Speaker 1: the I heart Radio app or wherever you get your podcasts. 583 00:36:22,239 --> 00:36:24,400 Speaker 1: Stuff you Missed in History Class is a production of 584 00:36:24,480 --> 00:36:27,680 Speaker 1: I heart Radio. For more podcasts from I heart Radio, 585 00:36:27,840 --> 00:36:31,000 Speaker 1: visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you 586 00:36:31,120 --> 00:36:32,440 Speaker 1: listen to your favorite shows.