Horse-hoeing husbandry : $b or, an essay on the principles of vegetation and tillage. Designed to introduce a new method of culture; whereby the produce of land will be increased, and the usual expence lessened. Together with accurate descriptions and cuts of the instruments employed in it.Tull, Jethro
Science
Horse-hoeing husbandry : $b or, an essay on the principles of vegetation and tillage. Designed to introduce a new method of culture; whereby the produce of land will be increased, and the usual expence lessened. Together with accurate descriptions and cuts of the instruments employed in it.
Tull, Jethro
Agriculture -- Early works to 1800; Plows; Tillage
The sixth _Mint_ shews, that when new Earth is apply’d to the old
Roots, a Plant sends out new Roots on Purpose to feed on it: And that
the more Earth is given it, the more Roots will be form’d, by the new
Vigour the Plant takes from the Addition of Earth. This corresponds
with the Action of Hoing; for every time the Earth is mov’d about
Roots, they have a Change of Earth, which is new to them.
The seventh _Mint_ proves, that there is such a Communication betwixt
all the Roots, that when any of them have Water, they do impart a Share
thereof to all the rest: And that the Root of the lower Joint of this
Mint had Passages (or Vessels) leading from them, through the Stalk, to
the Roots of the upper Joint; tho’ the clear Stalk (through which it
must have pass’d) that was betwixt these two Joints, was several Inches
in Length.
This accounts for the great Produce of long tap-rooted Plants, such as
_Lusern_ and _St. Foin_, in very dry Weather: for the Earth at a great
Depth is always moist. It accounts also for the good Crops we have in
dry Summers, upon Land that has a Clay Bottom; for there the Water is
retain’d a long time, and the lower Roots of Plants which reach it, do,
like those of this Mint, send up a Share to all the higher Roots.
If those Roots of a Plant, which lie at the Surface of the Ground, did
not receive Moisture from other Roots, which lie deeper, they could be
of no Use in dry Weather. But ’tis certain, that if this dry Surface be
mov’d or dung’d, the Plant will be found to grow the faster, tho’ no
Rain falls; which seems to prove, both that the deep Roots communicate
to the shallow a Share of their Water, and receive in Return from them
a Share of Food, in common with all the rest of the Plant, as in the
Mints they did.
The two last _Mints_ shew, that when the upper Roots have Moisture
(as they had in the Earth in the Trough, carried thither first by the
lower Roots) they impart some of it to the lower, else these could not
have continu’d plump and fresh, as they did for 24 Hours in the empty
Glass. And I have since observed them to do so, in the cooler Season
of the Year, for several Weeks together, without any other Water, than
what the upper Roots convey’d to them, from the moist Earth above in
the Trough[4]. I know not what Time these Roots might continue to be
supply’d thus in the hot Weather, because I did not try any longer, for
fear of killing them.
[4] ’Tis certain, that Roots and other Chyle Vessels of a Plant have
a free Communication throughout all their Cavities, and the Liquor in
them will run towards that Part where there is least Resistance; and
such is that which is the most empty, whether it be above or below;
for there are no _Valves_ that can hinder the Descent or Ascent of
Liquor in these Vessels, as appears by the growing of a Plant in an
inverted Posture.
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