,transcriber's ,note        ,italic text
 is denoted by underscores and bold text
 by equal      signs4          ,,makers 
,,of    ,,modern ,,agriculture          
,illustration    ,,macmillan ,,and      
,,co41 ,limited    ,,london  ,,bombay   
,,calcutta  ,,melbourne      ,,the      
,,macmillan ,,company    ,,new ,,york   
,,boston  ,,chicago  ,,dallas  ,,san    
,,francisco      ,,the ,,macmillan ,,co4
 ,,of ,,canada1 ,ltd4    ,,toronto      
,illustration3 ,jethro ,tull    ,founder
 of the ,principles of ,dry-,farming4   
#afgd-agdj4          ,,makers ,,of      
,,modern ,,agriculture      ,,by        
,,william ,,macdonald1 ,d4,sc4          
,editor1 ,agricultural ,journal1 ,union 
,department of ,agriculture1  ,south    
,africa2 and ,corresponding ,secretary  
for the ,international  ,dry-,farming   
,congress            ,,macmillan ,,and  
,,co41 ,,limited    ,,st4 ,,martin',s   
,,street1 ,,london    #aiac             
,,copyright      ,richard ,clay and     
,sons1 ,limited1    ,,brunswick ,,st41  

,,stamford ,,st41 ,s4,e41 ,,and         
,,bungay1 ,,suffolk4          ,,preface 
,when it is remembered what a prominent 
part ,agriculture plays in the  history 
of all ,nations1 it does seem strange   
that so little is known  of the lives of
 those pioneers who have been foremost  
in the discovery  of fundamental        
principles1 improved methods1 and       
labour-saving  machines4 ,perhaps it is 
that farmers as a whole are not         
specially fond  of reading4 ,this1      
however1 is not to be wondered at1      
because after a  long day's work in the 
open air it is hard to rivet one's mind 
on  anything more serious than the      
headlines of a daily newspaper1 or the  
rose-tinted pictures of a rural         
magazine4 ,still1 it is safe to         
prophesy that the successful farmer of  
the future will not only be a  hard     
worker1 but also a hard reader4 ,and    
biography brings before us1  in a vivid 
manner1 the onward march of modern      
,agriculture4    ,it is also of interest

 to note how much ,agriculture owes to  
men who  could scarcely be called       
practical farmers4 ,indeed1 the author  
has  been impressed1 contrary to common 
opinion1 with the success of the        
,townsman who takes to farming4 ,but    
this is really no more surprising  than 
that the simple-hearted farm lad should 
forsake the ,old ,homestead  for the    
fascinations of the ,city1 and by reason
 of his character1  courage1 and        
industry1 become in a few years the     
,captain of some great  commercial      
enterprise4 ,there will always be the   
ceaseless ebb and  flow of the human    
tide between country lane and crowded   
street4 ,but it  is surely our plain    
duty to do something to make the life of
 the  worker in the field less dull and 
lonely1 and more attractive by the      
erection of pleasant cottages and the   
establishment of rural  industries3     
while1 at the same time1 we try to      
brighten the life of  the toiler in the 
town by freehold garden lots and sunlit1

 open  spaces4    ,i desire to thank the
 ,editors of the several papers in which
 these  ,sketches have appeared for kind
 permission to republish them in book   
form3 ,the ,graphic 7,chapter ,i71 ,the 
,star1 ,johannesburg 7,chapter  ,,ii71  
the ,rand ,daily ,mail 7,chapters ,,iii 
and ,,iv71 and the ,sunday  ,post       
7,chapter ,v74 ,to the ,journal of the  
,royal ,agricultural ,society  of       
,england1 ,i am indebted for the        
frontispiece 7,jethro ,tull71 as well   
as for much valuable information4       
,royal ,agricultural ,society of        
,england1        #af1 ,bedford ,square1 
,london1           ,september #ast1     
#aiac4          ,,contents              
,,page        ,portrait of ,jethro ,tull
   ,frontispiece        ,i4 ,jethro     
,tull                                   
#a       ,,ii4 ,coke of ,norfolk        
#af      ,,iii4 ,arthur ,young          
#ci       ,,iv4 ,john ,sinclair         
#ed        ,v4 ,cyrus ,h4 ,mc,cormick   
#fh           ,one comfort is1 that     

,great ,men1 taken up in any way1 are   
profitable company4--,carlyle4          
,,makers ,,of ,,modern ,,agriculture    
,,chapter ,i      ,,jethro ,,tull 3     
,,founder ,,of ,,the ,,principles ,,of  
,,dry-,,farming           ,for the finer
 land is made by tillage the richer will
 it become       and the more plants    
will it maintain4--,jethro ,tull4       
,eight miles to the north-west of       
,reading1 on a lovely reach of the      
,river ,thames1 lies the parish town of 
,basildon1 in the ,county of            
,berkshire4 ,here1 in the year #afgd1   
was born the man who revolutionized     
,british agriculture and laid the       
foundations for the ,conquest of the    
,desert4 ,yet1 strange as it may seem1  
until the other day ,tull's  grave was  
unknown1 and even now no monument marks 
the resting-place of  this illustrious  
husbandman4 ,his family was of ancient  
and honourable  lineage1 and he was heir
 to a competent estate4 ,at seventeen he
  entered his name on the register of   

,st4 ,john's ,college1 ,oxford2 but he  
did not proceed to a degree4 ,two years 
later he was admitted as a  student of  
,gray's ,inn1 and was1 in due course1   
called to the ,bar4 ,it  is probable    
that ,tull studied law not so much with 
the thought of  taking it up seriously  
as a profession1 but simply in order to 
better  fit himself for a political     
career4 ,ill-health1 however1 made him  
turn  his attention to farming4 ,at the 
age of twenty-five he married a lady  of
 good family1 ,miss ,susanna ,smith1 of 
the ,county of ,warwick1 and then       
settled down to farm in ,oxfordshire4   
,his first farm was ,howberry1 in the   
parish of ,crowmarsh4 ,the land of  this
 farm was fertile and renowned for heavy
 crops of both wheat and  barley4 ,here 
,tull lived and toiled for nine years1  
till at last his  health broke down and 
he was ordered south to the milder      
climate of  ,france and ,italy4 ,so he  
decided to sell a portion of his        
,oxfordshire  estate and send his family

 to another farm in ,berkshire named    
,prosperous1 situated in the parish of  
,shalbourne4 ,after an absence  of three
 years ,tull returned to ,prosperous    
,farm--a place for ever  famous in the  
annals of agriculture4 ,here he lived   
for twenty-six  years to the close of   
his strenuous1 chequered career4 ,of    
this farm1  ,tull writes3 ,situated on a
 little chalk on one side and heath on  
the  other1 the soil is poor and        
shallow--generally too light and too    
shallow to produce a tolerable crop of  
beans4 ,this farm was made out  of the  
skirts of others2 a great part was a    
sheep down with a full  reputation of   
poverty4    ,while in ,europe ,tull took
 special note of the deep and careful   
cultivation of the vineyards1 where the 
tillage of the soil between  the rows of
 the grape vines was made to take the   
place of manuring the  land4 ,on his    
return to ,england he tried this method 
at ,prosperous  ,farm1 first with       
turnips and potatoes1 and then with     

wheat4 ,and by  adopting this simple    
system with some few modifications of   
his own1 he  was enabled to grow wheat  
on the same fields for thirteen years   
continuously without the use of manure4 
99       99       99       99       99  
,it was on his farm of ,howberry that   
,tull invented and perfected his  drill 
in the year #agja4 ,he has told the     
story of this invention in the  pages of
 his great work4 ,finding his plans for 
growing sainfoin#a  hindered by the     
distaste of his labourers for his new   
methods1 he  resolved to try to contrive
 an engine to plant ,st4 ,foin more     
faithfully than such hands would do4    
,for that purpose ,i examined and       
compared all the mechanical ideas that  
ever had entered my  imagination1 and at
 last pitched upon a groove1 tongue1 and
 spring in  the sound-board of the      
organ4 ,with these1 a little altered1   
and some  parts of two other            
instruments1 as foreign to the field as 
the organ  is1 added to them1 ,i        

composed my machine4 ,it was named a    
drill1  because1 when farmers used to   
sow their beans and peas in channels or 
furrows by hand1 they called that action
 drilling4 ,and thus ,tull's  drill1    
taken from the rotary mechanism of his  
favourite organ1 is the  pioneer of all 
modern planters4 ,his first invention   
was what he termed  a drill-plough to   
sow wheat and turnip seed three rows at 
a time4    #a ,a leguminous plant       
cultivated for fodder4    ,it was this  
invention that led ,tull to enunciate   
his first principle  of tillage1 namely1
 drilling4 ,and it is the more amazing  
to reflect  that even after this long   
lapse of time many farmers still persist
 in  broadcasting their seed2 for1 as a 
recent authority working on the         
semi-arid lands of ,montana writes3     
,sowing broadcast is bad at any  time1  
but in dry-farming it is suicidal4 ,that
 the use of the drill  has everywhere   
effected an enormous saving of seed is  
common  knowledge2 but let us hear what 

,tull has to say under this head3 ,seed 
7sainfoin7 was scarce1 dear1 and bad1   
and enough could scarce be got  to sow1 
as was usual1 seven bushels#b to an     
acre4 ,i examined and  thought the      
matter out1 and found the greater part  
of the seed  miscarried1 being bad1 or  
too much covered4 ,i observed1 and      
counted1  and found when much seed had  
miscarried the crop was best4 ,here was 
his second principle1 reduction of seed1
 or1 as we now say1  thin-seeding1 a    
practice which has been adopted by the  
dry-farmers  of ,utah with remarkable   
success4    #b ,at the present time it  
is customary to sow from #hj-ajj lb4 of 
sainfoin seed per acre4    ,moreover1   
,tull was an ardent advocate of the     
weedless field1 and he  saw1 clearly    
enough1 that dung was a serious menace  
to clean tillage1  as the seeds of      
troublesome weeds were apt to be        
scattered far and  wide over the farm4  
,this led him to lay down as his third  
principle--the absence of weed4 ,but he 

certainly never1 as is  sometimes said1 
condemned the use of manure4 ,his       
experiments1 however1  proved beyond the
 shadow of doubt that good crops might  
be grown  simply and solely by means of 
deep and constant tillage4 ,so he says1 
angrily3 ,the vulgar in general believe 
that ,i carried my farmyard  dung and   
threw it in a river4 ,i have no river   
near2 besides1 my  neighbours buy dung  
at a good price2 but it is known ,i     
neither sell  nor waste any dung4       
,against such lying tongues there is no 
defence4    ,nevertheless1 many years   
after his part was taken by none other  
than  the great scientist of            
,rothamsted1 the late ,sir ,john ,lawes1
 who wrote  as follows3--    ,tull was  
quite an original genius and a century  
in advance of his  time4 ,i consider he 
has been most unjustly accused of not   
placing  sufficient value upon farmyard 
manure2 he advocated cleanliness1 and   
saw that dung was a great carrier of    
weeds4 ,to give some clear idea of  the 

value of ,tull's advocacy of            
drill-husbandry and the freedom from    
weed which can alone be obtained by the 
use of the drill1 ,i may  mention that  
so far as statistics will allow1 ,i have
 ascertained the  average yield of the  
wheat crop of the world1 and ,i am able 
to say  that the average yield is less  
than it is at the present time upon my  
permanent wheat land1 after more than   
sixty years absolutely without  manure4 
,here we have the result of ,tull's     
three great  principles--drilling1      
reduction of seed1 and absence of weed4 
,if he  were alive now and were writing 
for the agriculture of the world1 he    
would1 ,i think1 be quite justified in  
saying everything he said in  regard to 
cleanliness and manure4    ,as a result 
of his studies1 travels1 and            
experiments1 ,tull published  ,the ,new 
,horse-,hoeing ,husbandry3 or an ,essay 
on the ,principles of  ,tillage and     
,vegetation in the year #agca4 ,the     
great value of this work  is that it is 

founded not upon mere theory1 but upon  
actual  experiments in the field4 ,the  
fourth edition1 which ,i have beside me1
  consists of #dbf pages1 with several  
plates1 and #bc chapters which  treat of
 the following subjects3 ,of ,roots and 
,leaves2 ,of ,food of  ,plants2 ,of     
,pastures of ,plants2 ,of ,dung2 ,of    
,tillage2 ,of ,weeds2 ,of  ,turnips2 ,of
 ,wheat2 ,of ,smuttiness2 ,of ,lucerne2 
,of ,change of ,species2 ,of  ,change of
 ,individuals2 ,of ,ridges2 ,old and    
,new ,husbandry2 ,of ,ploughs2  ,the    
,four-,coulter'd ,plough2 ,of the       
,drill-,boxes2 ,of the ,wheat-,drill3   
,of  the ,turnip-,drill2 ,of the        
,hoe-,plough2 with an appendix          
concerning the  making of the drill and 
the hoe-plough4    ,tull's idea--which  
was that by tillage soils might be      
constantly and  for ever reinvigorated  
or renewed--is summed up in his famous  
epigram1  tillage is manure4 ,he        
believed that the earth was the true and
 the  sole food of the plant1 and1      

further1 that the plant feeds and grows 
by taking in minute particles of soil4  
,and since these particles are  thrown  
off from the surface of the soil grains1
 it followed1  therefore1 that the more 
finely the soil was divided the more    
numerous  the particles and the more    
readily the plant would grow4 ,although 
,tull's theories were wrong1 his        
practice has been followed by all       
progressive farmers down to the present 
time4 ,we now know that plants  do not  
absorb particles of earth1 but take in  
food in solution4  ,consequently1 the   
more the particles of soil are broken up
 and  refined1 the more plant food the  
roots can absorb4 ,in this volume1      
which must be counted an agricultural   
classic1 ,tull at once takes rank  as   
the foremost preacher of his time of the
 gospel of deep and perfect  tillage4   
,and it is a work which1 in the words of
 his great compeer1  ,arthur ,young1    
will unquestionably carry his name to   
the latest  posterity4    ,the botanical

 world has recently been illumined by   
the splendid  discovery of the          
principles of heredity set forth by     
,gregor ,mendel1  and the foremost      
exponent of the new science1 ,professor 
,bateson1  writes as follows3 ,we have  
at last a brilliant method and a solid  
basis from which to attack these        
problems1 offering an opportunity to    
the pioneer such as occurs but seldom   
even in the history of modern  science4 
,cannot we1 as agriculturists1 say the  
same with equal truth8  ,for1 to our    
thinking1 ,jethro ,tull bears the same  
relation to  dry-farming that ,mendel   
does to plant-breeding4 ,for if1 on the 
one  hand1 his drill-ploughs are the    
models from which have been derived  the
 marvellous agricultural machines of    
modern times1 then1 on the  other1 his  
clean husbandry1 his seed selection1 his
 deep and constant  tillage are the     
fundamental principles in the great new 
science of  dry-farming4 ,nor should we 
forget that both ,mendel and ,tull      

enunciated their principles only after  
long and patient experiment4    ,the    
principles which we have adopted in our 
experiments on the  ,government         
,dry-,land ,station at ,lichtenburg1 in 
the ,transvaal and which  we propose to 
follow on all stations hereafter to be  
established in  the ,union of ,south    
,africa1 are seven in number1 namely3   
7#a7 ,deep  ploughing2 7#b7 drilling2   
7#c7 thin seeding2 7#d7 frequent        
harrowing2 7#e7  weedless lands2 7#f7   
few varieties2 and 7#g7 moisture-saving 
fallows4  ,and we know full well that   
the more faithfully we adhere to this   
scheme the richer shall be our harvests4
 ,but1 after all1 these  principles are 
merely the amplification1 nothing more1 
of those  fundamental methods of tillage
 so plainly set forth1 one hundred and  
eighty-two years ago1 by the genius of  
,jethro ,tull4    ,tull died in the     
month of ,march1 in the year #agdj1 at  
the age of  sixty-six4 ,in speaking of  
agricultural education we have          

frequently  urged the benefits to be    
derived from a liberal education1 and we
 like  to recall ,tull's own words3 ,i  
owe my principles and practice          
originally to my travels1 as ,i owe my  
drill to my organ4 ,here indeed1  was a 
man of many parts--a famous             
agriculturist1 an able mechanic1 a  good
 musician1 and a keen classical scholar4
 ,his life1 strange to say1  was one    
dauntless struggle with disease4 ,for   
six years he scarce ever  left his room1
 and seldom in that period was he       
gladdened by so much  as a glimpse of   
his hundred acres of drilled wheat4 ,so 
they laid the  tired body of the        
simple-minded ,english squire under the 
yew-trees of  ,basildon in the mellow   
soil he loved so well4 ,but the bells of
 the old  church of ,saint ,bartholomew 
now ring out with a new1 glad message1  
for they tell the toiling husbandmen of 
all lands to be of good cheer1  for the 
desert shall rejoice and blossom as the 
rose2 while the winds  and the waters   

carry the echo of ,tull's name down     
through the  corridors of time4         
,,chapter ,,ii      ,,coke ,,of         
,,norfolk3 ,,fattier ,,of ,,experimental
 ,,farms          ,seest thou a man     
diligent in his business8 ,he shall     
stand      before ,kings2 he shall not  
stand before mean men4    ,at the       
beginning of this article we have quoted
 a text taken from the  ,proverbs of    
,solomon1 which we believe can be       
applied more truthfully  to the subject 
of our paper than to any other name     
conspicuous in the  annuals of          
agriculture4 ,for he was a man diligent 
in his business and  he stood before    
,kings4    ,thomas ,william ,coke1 of   
,holkham 7,holy ,home71 ,earl of        
,leicester1 was  the eldest son of      
,robert ,wenman4 ,he was born in the    
year #ageb1 and  educated at ,eton1     
after which he travelled abroad4 ,on the
 death of his  father1 ,coke was elected
 in his place as member of ,parliament  
for the  ,county of ,norfolk4 ,he was   

then in his twenty-second year4 ,he     
entered  the youngest member2 his       
political career extended over a period 
of  fifty-seven years1 and he finished  
up as ,father of the ,house of          
,commons4 ,his domestic life was        
singularly happy--very different from   
the sad state of his great contemporary 
,arthur ,young4 ,in #agge he  married   
his cousin1 ,jane ,dutton1 by whom he   
had three daughters4 ,after  her death  
in #ahjj he remained a widower for      
twenty-one years and then  at the age of
 sixty-eight wedded a girl of eighteen1 
,lady ,anne ,keppel1  by whom he had    
five sons and one daughter4 ,coke had   
the unique  experience of being offered 
a ,peerage seven times under six        
different  ,prime ,ministers1 and he was
 the first commoner raised to the       
,peerage  by ,queen ,victoria on her    
accession to the ,throne4 ,in this      
connection  an amusing story is told4   
,in the year #ahag ,coke was called on  
to  present1 at a ,levee1 a very        

forcible address to the ,prince of      
,wales1  who was then acting as ,regent1
 praying him to dismiss from his        
presence and ,council those advisers1   
who1 by their conduct1 had proved       
themselves alike enemies to the ,throne 
and the people4 ,the ,regent was  warned
 of the proposal4 ,knowing that ,coke   
valued his position as a  ,commoner     
above everything else1 he declared with 
an oath that3 ,if  ,coke of ,norfolk    
enters my presence1 by ,god1 ,i'll      
knight him4 ,this  speech was repeated  
to ,coke4 ,if he dares1 was the         
rejoinder1 by ,god  ,i'll break his     
sword4    ,part of the estate or        
,holkham was formerly a series of salt  
marshes  on the coast of the ,north     
,sea4 ,and when ,coke came into his     
property in  #aggf--;a fateful year in  
the history of the ,british ,empire the 
surrounding district was little better  
than a rabbit-warren1 with long         
stretches of shingle and sand4 ,soon    
after ,coke's marriage1 when his  wife  

remarked that she was going down to     
,norfolk1 the witty old ,lady           
,townshend said1 ,then1 my dear1 all you
 will see will be one blade of  grass   
and two rabbits fighting for that4 ,the 
story of how ,coke came  to be a        
practical farmer is told in the third   
volume of the ,journal of  the ,royal   
,agricultural ,society of ,england1     
published in the year #ahdb4  ,the      
article containing it was written by    
,earl ,spencer1 and is of  special      
interest as he had it direct from the   
lips of ,mr4 ,coke 7then  ,lord         
,leicester7 a short time before his     
death4 ,when ,coke entered into  his    
heritage1 he found that five leases were
 about to expire4 ,these  farms were    
held at a rental of #cs4 #f;d4 an acre2 
and in the previous  leases they had    
been valued at #as4 #f;d4 an acre4 ,at  
that time the  agriculture of ,norfolk  
was of the poorest character2 and we may
 judge  of the quality of the ,holkham  
land by comparing it with the average   

rent of #ajs4 an acre which ,arthur     
,young says prevailed at this time4     
,coke sent for the two tenants1 ,mr4    
,brett and ,mr4 ,tann1 and offered to   
renew their leases at a slightly higher 
figure1 namely #es4 an acre4  ,both     
refused2 and ,mr4 ,brett jeered at the  
suggestion1 saying that the  land was   
not worth even the #as4 #f;d4 an acre   
which had originally been  paid for it4 
,this curt refusal was enough for a man 
of ,coke's  temperament4 ,he forthwith  
decided to farm the land himself4 ,it   
was  thus that a young man of           
twenty-two1 possessor of a princely     
fortune1  fresh from the salons of      
,europe1 suddenly turned his back on a  
gay  and fashionable world2 and stung   
into action by the laughter of a lazy   
tenant1 took up the management of a     
sterile farm1 raised a parish from      
poverty to affluence1 transformed a     
desolate county into a cornfield1  and  
left a name renowned in the annals of   
,english agriculture4           99      

99       99       99       99    ,in the
 history of agriculture1 the name of    
,coke is chiefly remembered  by those   
famous gatherings locally known as      
,coke's ,clippings4 ,these  wonderful   
meetings began in a simple way with the 
clipping or shearing  of sheep1 but soon
 came to embrace the whole realm of the 
rural  industry4 ,as might be imagined1 
when ,coke took over the management of  
his farms1 he had not the slightest     
knowledge of the science and  practice  
of agriculture4 ,so he called together  
his neighbours and  frankly asked their 
advice4    ,they in turn were doubtless 
glad to meet a young man so keen and so 
eager to learn4 ,soon they brought their
 friends and their relatives1  and two  
years later these little country        
gatherings had assumed a more  definite 
character1 and were thereupon called    
,coke's ,clippings4 ,soon               
agriculturists from all parts of ,great 
,britain wrote to ask if they  might    
attend4 ,swiftly and steadily the fame  

of the clippings grew1  till presently  
scientific and other celebrated men from
 the ,united  ,states and the ,continent
 travelled to ,england to take part in  
these  meetings4 ,year by year they     
increased in numbers till at last they  
embraced every nationality1 every       
profession1 and every rank in life1     
from ,royalty to the poorest peasant4   
,holkham had1 in fact1 become a  great  
experimental farm--a private estate     
turned by the enterprise of  its owner  
into a public institution4 ,nowadays1 we
 are familiar with  ,state experimental 
farms1 which are visited by thousands of
 farmers  once or twice a year4 ,but a  
century ago such a thing was unheard of1
  and ,coke may justly be termed the    
,father of the ,experimental ,farm4  ,at
 these shearings ,coke presented many   
cups and prizes for the  invention of   
any new agricultural implement1 for     
suggestions with  regard to improved    
systems of cropping1 of irrigation1 of  
enriching  the soil1 and for articles on

 agricultural subjects--in a word1 to   
every one who contributed to advance any
 branch whatsoever of the  agricultural 
industry4 ,moreover1 we are told that at
 a meeting of #ahjc  sweepstakes were   
offered for guessing the correct weight 
of a wether4  ,the winner was a certain 
,mr4 ,money ,hill1 who guessed the exact
  weight--#acj lbs42 while a butcher    
named ,rett was a good second1 and he   
guessed the weights of four other sheep 
within one pound4 ,it is said  that1 one
 year1 there died on the ,holkham estate
 a tenant who had won  no less than #hjj
 in prizes at the clippings4 ,party     
politics were  carefully excluded from  
these meetings1 and any attempt to      
introduce a  party spirit into the      
speeches at the annual dinners was at   
once  silenced by ,coke4 ,as a          
politician he was a prominent ,whig1 but
 as an  agriculturist he sank his       
politics and opened his doors to men of 
merit irrespective of their views4 ,thus
 he gave ,sir ,john ,sinclair a         

magnificent goblet as a token of his    
appreciation of ,sinclair's ,code  of   
,agriculture1 in spite of the fact that 
,sir ,john was a strong  supporter of   
the vile ,tories and their viler head1  
,mr4 ,pitt4 ,sir  ,john was pleased     
beyond measure and remarked1 with a true
 ,highland  courtesy1 that hitherto the 
most priceless heirloom in his castle   
had  been the drinking cup of ,mary     
,queen of ,scots1 but henceforth he     
would  look on the goblet of his ,whig  
friend as his greatest treasure4    ,the
 last of ,coke's ,clippings took place  
in the year #ahba4 ,it was  attended by 
seven thousand people1 and lasted three 
whole days4 ,there  is something very   
pleasing in the account of this pastoral
 scene4 ,a  stately mansion in a        
splendid park1 with a group of village  
maidens  spinning flax1 on a velvet     
lawn1 in the midst of a vast concourse  
of  people drawn from all parts of the  
earth4 ,punctually at ten o'clock in    
the morning1 so we read1 ,miss ,coke    

came on to the lawn1 accompanied by  her
 father1 and the ,duke of ,sussex4 ,then
 after greetings taken and  greetings   
given1 the vast crowd proceeded1 some   
riding1 some driving1  some walking1 to 
inspect the different farms on the      
estate4 ,the first  day was given up to 
the study of the inoculated pasture1    
prize  cattle1 new implements1          
sheep-shearing amid farm crops4 ,the    
second day  was devoted to fresh fields1
 farm schools and cottage gardens4 ,the 
third day was absorbed in the inspection
 of the carcases of animals  that had   
been slaughtered1 speech-making1 and the
 distribution of  prizes4 ,on that day  
at #c p4m41 seven hundred guests sat    
down to  dinner1 a mid-day meal1 which1 
with the speeches and prizes lasted for 
seven hours6 ,the historian of this     
period has left us an account of  the   
most popular toasts at these annual     
banquets1 such as ,a ,fine  ,fleece and 
a ,fat ,carcase1 ,the ,plough and a     
,good ,use of ,it1 while  the tribute to

 ,coke's efforts to enclose all waste   
lands always  brought down the house1   
for it wittily ran3 ,the ,enclosing of  
all  ,waists1 and ,coke's own toast     
,live and ,let ,live1 was invariably    
greeted with tumultuous applause4 ,the  
two annalists who have left us          
unimpeachable accounts of those         
memorable meetings are both agreed  that
 ,coke himself was the central figure4  
,dr4 ,rigby1 in ,holkham and  its       
,agriculture 7#ahah7 writes3 ,he is     
everywhere and with everyone4  ,he      
solicits enquiry from everyone4 ,at each
 halt in the ride little  knots of      
people collected round him and listened 
with absorbed  interest to all he said1 
while for hours he thus sustained the   
character of leader1 lecturer1 and host4
 ,and the ,american ,ambassador  of that
 day1 ,his ,excellency ,mr4 ,richard    
,rush1 writes in ,a ,residence  at the  
,court of ,london1 ,no matter what the  
subsequent advance of  ,english         
agriculture or its results1 ,mr4 ,coke  

will ever take honourable  rank among   
the pioneers of the great work4 ,come   
what will in the  future1 the ,holkham  
sheep-shearings' will live in ,english  
rural  annals4 ,long will tradition     
speak of them as uniting improvements in
  agriculture to an abundant1 cordial1  
and joyous hospitality4    ,when ,coke  
started to farm in ,norfolk the value of
 rotation was  unknown4 ,then1 it was   
customary to grow three white straw     
crops in  succession followed by        
broadcast turnips4 ,it was not to be    
wondered at  that soil which consisted  
mainly of drifting sand and sharp1      
flinty  gravel should soon become worn  
out4 ,coke changed this practice and    
grew only two white crops in succession 
and then let the land lie in  pasture   
for the next two years4 ,he began to    
manure heavily2 and used  rape-cake as a
 top dressing with marked success4      
,moreover1 he found  that the soil of   
almost the whole district was composed  
of very light  sand and underlaid with a

 stratum of rich marl4 ,pits were       
opened1 the  marl dug out1 and scattered
 over the surface of the land4 ,this not
  only promoted fertility1 but gave to  
the soil that solidity which is  so     
essential to the growth of wheat1 ,it   
was ,coke's proud boast that he  turned 
,west ,norfolk from a rye-growing into a
 wheat-growing district4  ,but it took  
him eleven years before he could get    
wheat to grow on the  poor1 sandy soil  
of his own estate4 ,nevertheless1 before
 he died1  these so-called rabbit and   
rye lands were yielding as much as      
thirty-two bushels to the acre4 ,his    
main idea was to stock heavily2  more   
for the sake of manure than for the sake
 of meat4 ,he pinned his  faith on the  
motto3 ,muck is the mother of money4    
,and we are told  that he was accustomed
 to say to his tenants1 ,if you will    
keep an  extra yard of bullocks1 ,i will
 build you a yard and sheds free of     
expense4 ,he was a patient man but he   
was once heard to remark3 ,it is        

difficult to teach anything to adult    
ignorance4 ,i had to contend with       
prejudice1 an ignorant impatience of    
change1 and a rooted attachment  to old 
methods4 ,he referred to the fact that  
the farmers still  persisted in the old 
system of sowing cereals broadcast1 or  
else  laboriously made holes with a     
dibbing-iron into which the grain was   
dropped1 while another man followed with
 a rake and covered up the  holes4 ,thus
 he used the drill for sixteen years    
before any of his  neighbours could be  
induced to adopt it2 and even when the  
farmers  began at last to see the       
benefit of this rapid manner of sowing1 
he  estimated that its spread was only a
 mile each year4 ,by-and-by1  however1  
he noticed that a quaint term for a good
 crop of barley had  come into use at   
,holkham4 ,his farmers spoke of         
hat-barley for the  reason that if a man
 throws his hat into a crop of barley1  
the hat  rests on the surface if the    
crop is good1 but falls to the ground if

  the crop is bad4 ,all sir1 said his   
tenants at length1 is  'hat-barley'     
since the drill came4           99      
99       99       99       99    ,coke  
was never tired of experimenting with   
every kind of crop4  ,cocksfoot 7orchard
 grass7 was cultivated with great       
success and  numbers of sheep were      
fattened on it4 ,on land1 once          
considered  worthless1 he cut four      
hundred tons of sainfoin from one       
hundred and  four acres4 ,he early      
recognised the merits of swedes1 and was
 the  first to grow them on a large     
scale4 ,he made a special study of birds
  in relation to the eradication of     
grubs4 ,finding a field of turnips      
infested with a larva which caused black
 canker he turned four hundred  ducks   
into the field which they cleared of    
this pest in five days4  ,early in his  
career ,coke discarded the native sheep 
of ,norfolk1 with  backs as narrow as   
rabbits1 in favour of the ,southdowns1  
and gradually  became one of the largest

 sheep-breeders in ,england4 ,encouraged
 by  the ,duke of ,bedford1 another     
eminent agriculturist1 he started a herd
  of ,north ,devons1 and thereafter bred
 them with much success4 ,he also       
improved the ,suffolk breed of pigs by  
crossing them with the  ,neapolitan1    
thereby obtaining a superior quality of 
pork4  ,afforestation was one of his    
special hobbies4 ,he fully realised the 
truth of the old saying that a tree is  
growing while its planter is  sleeping4 
,every year he planted fifty acres of   
timber1 mostly oak1  ,spanish chestnut1 
and beech1 till he had three thousand   
acres of  bleak1 wind-swept country well
 covered4 ,he permitted the poor of the 
neighbourhood to plant potatoes among   
his young trees for two or three  years2
 a practice which kept his land clean   
and saved the expense of  hoeing4 ,and  
in the year #ahcb he embarked in a ship 
built of oak from  the acorns which he  
himself had planted4    ,he always      
maintained that the interests of        

landlord and tenant were  identical4 ,in
 order1 therefore1 to encourage his     
tenants to exert  themselves to the     
utmost1 he let out his farms on long    
leases of  twenty-one years at a        
moderate rental and burdened with but   
few  restrictions4 ,he soon saw1        
however1 that in the case of an indolent
  tenant a long lease would mean the    
rapid deterioration of the  property4   
,it happened at this time that a certain
 farmer named ,mr4  ,overman1 who had   
been foremost in furthering the new     
agricultural  schemes1 applied for a    
farm on the ,holkham estate4 ,coke      
allowed him1  as an experiment1 to draw 
up the covenants of his own lease4      
,overman  straightway inserted a clause 
making the improved course of cropping  
compulsory4 ,coke was so pleased that he
 at once made this lease the  model for 
all his other tenants with a few slight 
modifications4 ,and  so the land was    
fully protected from any possible injury
 through a  long period of bad farming4 

,by such improved methods ,coke is said 
to  have raised the annual rental of his
 estate from #b1bjj to #bj1jjj2  while  
the yearly fall of timber and underwood 
averaged #b1gjj--;a sum  which exceeded 
the whole of his old rent roll4 ,during 
his sixty-six  years at ,holkham he     
spent over half a million pounds        
sterling on  improvements alone1 without
 taking into account the large sums     
spent  on his house1 domain1 and        
home-farm buildings4 ,yet it is averred 
that  this vast outlay was all regained 
in due course4 ,at that period the      
,holkham estate consisted of #d1cjj     
acres in a ring fence1 with a park  of  
#c1ejj acres surrounded by a ten-mile   
wall close to the sea4 ,in a  volume    
entitled ,agricultural ,writers         
7#abjj-ahjj7 by ,donald  ,mc,donald1 the
 name of ,coke does not appear4 ,and it 
would seem that all  he ever wrote were 
some papers for the ,annals of          
,agriculture 7,arthur  ,young71 and a   
pamphlet on ,an ,address to the         

,freeholders of ,norfolk4    ,the       
biography of this remarkable man has    
recently been written in two  brightly  
bound and lavishly illustrated volumes  
by ,mrs4 ,a4 ,m4 ,w4  ,stirling1 under  
the title of ,coke and his ,friends4#c  
,his memory  well deserved the laborious
 and loving tribute of his enthusiastic 
great grand-child4 ,but to be of any    
practical value to the  agriculturist1  
the book must be greatly condensed4 ,out
 of thirty-five  chapters we can find   
only five which tell of his services to 
the  agricultural industry4 ,out of a   
thousand odd pages we can find only  one
 hundred and sixteen which bear on the  
science and practice of  farming4 ,out  
of sixty-four carefully executed        
illustrations we can  only find four    
which have anything whatsoever to do    
with rural  affairs4 ,it may be affirmed
 that ,coke was much more than a mere   
agriculturist4 ,that is very true2 but  
surely his fame rests far more  on his  
services to rural progress than on his  

reputation as a  politician1 a society  
leader1 or a landlord4 ,we therefore    
hope that at  no distant date the same  
flowing pen which has produced the      
bulkier  volumes will compile a handier 
life dealing altogether with ,coke's    
agricultural doings4 ,coke died in #ahdb
 at the age of eighty-eight1 and  was   
buried in the family mausoleum attached 
to the ,tittleshall ,church1  ,norfolk4 
#c ,published by ,mr4 ,john ,lane1      
,london4    ,in a life drama so vivid   
and forceful there are yet two vivid    
scenes  we cannot fail to recall4 ,it   
was ,coke who brought forward the motion
  in the ,house of ,commons to recognise
 the independence of the ,american      
,colonies4 ,all night long the ,house   
sat4 ,at #h4cj a4m41 the end came4      
,amid breathless silence the result was 
announced #agg ,noes1 #agh ,ayes4  ,it  
was ,coke who announced to the          
obstinate1 discomfited ,king the  result
 of that great debate1 whereby the      
disastrous fratricidal war  was forever 

ended and the independence of the       
,united ,states  acknowledged by the    
,parliament of the ,mother ,country1    
after nine  bitter years1 by a majority 
of one vote4 ,the ,parish of ,burnham   
lies  next to the ,parish of ,holkham4  
,and the son of the rector of the former
  village1 a fragile1 delicate lad1 used
 sometimes to join ,mr4 ,coke's  hounds 
when they were out coursing4 ,but he was
 never asked to shoot1  as only once had
 he been known to hit a partridge4 ,one 
day this poor  young man1 returning from
 a two years' cruise paid a visit to his
  wealthy neighbour and stayed          
overnight4 ,the great-uncle of his host 
built the mansion house of ,holkham1 and
 ,thomas ,william ,coke spent all  his  
life and a large fortune in developing  
the family estate4 ,but the  ,british   
people placed ,nelson1 the frail and    
nervous guest1 who slept  that night in 
the humble turret-room1 on the top of   
the ,column in the  centre of ,trafalgar
 ,square4          ,,chapter ,,iii      

,,arthur ,,young3 ,,author ,,of ,,the   
,,agricultural ,,tour          ,the     
magic of property turns sands into gold4
 ,give a man the      secure possession 
of a bleak rock1 and he will turn it    
into a      garden2 give him a nine     
years' lease of a garden1 and he will   
convert it into a desert4--,arthur      
,young4    ,arthur ,young1 the greatest 
of ,english agriculturists and the      
poorest  of practical farmers1 was born 
at ,whitehall1 ,london1 in the year     
#agda4  ,he was the youngest son of the 
,reverend ,dr4 ,arthur ,young1          
,prebendary  of ,canterbury ,cathedral1 
,rector of ,bradfield1 and of ,anne     
,lucretia1  daughter of ,john de        
,cousmaker1 a ,dutchman who accompanied 
,william of  ,orange to ,england4 ,from 
his father ,arthur inherited good looks 
and  literary talent2 and from his      
mother the love of learning and         
brilliant and pleasing speech4    ,mrs4 
,young brought her clerical husband a   
large dowry1 much of which  was         

swallowed up in the vortex of his debts1
 and later1 on his death1  in promoting 
the agricultural schemes of her gifted  
but unbusinesslike  son4 ,his home from 
the first1 and for the most part of his 
life1 was  ,bradfield ,hall in the      
,county of ,suffolk--a property which   
had been in  the hands of the ,young    
family since the year #afgb4 ,after a   
visit to  ,bradfield1 reached from      
,marks ,tey on the ,great ,eastern      
,railway1 you do  not wonder at ,young's
 early love of rural life4 ,a broad1    
winding1  elm-bordered road1 meadows    
knee-deep in wild flowers and waving    
grasses1 tangled hedges of eglantine and
 honeysuckle1 rustling  cornfields and  
silent woods--these1 all these1 were the
 sweet pathways  to his home4    ,at the
 age of seven the lad was sent to the   
,grammar ,school at ,lavenham  in order 
to learn the ,greek and ,latin          
languages1 together with writing  and   
arithmetic4 ,owing to the indulgence of 
a fond mother1 his  attendance at his   

classes was irregular1 and neither the  
centurions of  ,csar nor the wooers of  
,penelope were able to beguile him from 
his  pony1 his pointer and his gun4 ,but
 the cheapness of his board and         
schooling would delight the hearts of   
many parents in the ,transvaal  and     
elsewhere in the year of grace #aiab4   
,here is the bill3--         ,the ,rev4 
,dr4 ,young to ,john ,coulter 7,master  
of ,lavenham ,school71       ,xmas1     
#agej to ,xmas1 #agea4 ,a year's board1 
etc41 #ae4 ,sundries1 #b       #ds4     
#d;d4 ,total1 #ag #ds4 #d;d4    ,on     
leaving ,lavenham1 he was apprenticed1  
at the wish of his mother1  to a        
wine-merchant at ,lynn4 ,he deserted his
 new work4 ,he was fond of  music and   
the drama4 ,he excelled in dancing1 but 
was always a diligent  scholar4    ,his 
income1 in those days1 was not          
excessive1 being thirty pounds per      
annum3 but his foppery in dress deprived
 him of the means wherewith to  purchase
 his beloved books4 ,accordingly1 he    

wrote a pamphlet entitled  ,the ,theatre
 of the ,present ,war in ,north         
,america1 for which he  received ten    
pounds' worth of books from the         
publisher4 ,more balls  compelled him to
 compile more political pamphlets in    
order to procure  more books4 ,in the   
year #agei1 at the age of eighteen1 he  
left the  counting house at ,lynn1 as he
 tells us in his own words1 without     
education1 pursuits1 profession or      
employment4 ,that same year his  father 
died much in debt4    ,he next went to  
,london and started at his own expense a
 monthly  magazine called ,the          
,universal ,museum4 ,it failed1 and he  
returned  home4 ,all his wealth was now 
summed up in a freehold farm of twenty  
acres4 ,his mother owned eighty acres at
 ,bradfield4 ,she persuaded him  to     
reside with her and to manage the farm4 
,he had no knowledge of  agriculture1   
but he accepted1 and tells the story in 
his own words3  ,young1 eager1 and      
totally ignorant of every necessary     

detail1 it is  not surprising that ,i   
squandered large sums under golden      
dreams of  improvement4 ,at the age of  
twenty-four he married ,miss ,martha    
,allen  of ,lynn4 ,one of his           
biographers says3 ,the marriage brought 
him an  enviable connection--troops of  
friends1 a passport into brilliant      
circles1 but no fireside happiness4 ,the
 lady was evidently of a  captious      
disposition1 shrewish temper and narrow 
sympathies4 ,another  biographer writes3
 ,a loving son1 a devoted father1 ,young
 was an  indifferent husband4    ,having
 failed to make a success of his first  
farm1 ,young1 nothing  daunted1         
undertook the cultivation of ,sampford  
,hall in ,essex4 ,this  farm consisted  
of #cjj acres of good arable land4 ,but 
want of practical  knowledge1 and want  
of capital1 drove him from it1 and after
 a five  years' tenancy he paid a farmer
 #ajj to take it off his hands4 ,his    
successor made a fortune on it4 ,but    
during these five years ,young had  made

 a large number of experiments1 the     
results of which he afterwards          
published in two large volumes under the
 title of ,a ,course of  ,experimental  
,agriculture4 ,still unshaken in his    
love of the soil1 he  sought another    
farm1 and the quest furnished materials 
for his ,six  ,weeks' ,tour through the 
,southern ,counties1 a very popular work
 which  ran through several editions4   
,it was at this time that on the advice 
of his ,suffolk bailiff he took a farm  
of one hundred acres at ,north  ,mimms  
in ,hertfordshire4 ,this property had a 
good house1 but that seems  to have been
 all4 ,he was deceived by seeing it in a
 specially good  season4 ,this          
speculation proved worse than the last2 
but his  picturesque pen never failed3  
,i know what epithet to give this soil4 
,sterility falls short of the idea--a   
hungry1 vitriolic gravel4 ,i  occupied  
for nine years the jaws of a wolf4 ,the 
simple fact was that  whenever he put   
pen to paper he was successful2 whenever

 he turned to  practical farming he was 
a ruined man4    ,he continued to write4
 ,his publisher called for more tours4  
,his  receipts were considerable1 yet we
 find him recording3 ,no carthorse  ever
 laboured as ,i did at this period1     
spending like an idiot1 always  in debt1
 in spite of what ,i earned with the    
sweat of my brow1 and  almost my heart's
 blood--the year's receipts #a1afg4     
,about this time  he wrote ,observations
 on the ,present ,state of the ,waste   
,lands of  ,great ,britain1 and was     
elected a ,fellow of the ,royal         
,society4 ,finding  that he could not   
make enough to live on at farming1 he   
accepted an  appointment as             
,parliamentary ,reporter for the        
,morning ,post at five  guineas a       
week--a most incongruous job for a      
farmer since it compelled  him to be    
absent from his home during six days of 
the week4 ,yet he  retained it for      
several years--walking seventeen miles  
down to his  farm every ,saturday       

evening and returning to ,london every  
,monday  morning4    ,in the year #aghd 
,young began the publication of the     
,annals of  ,agriculture--a monthly     
publication which ran through forty-five
  volumes4 ,these annals covered the    
whole field of ,agriculture in the  form
 of letters and essays from the most    
eminent ruralists of the age4  ,but more
 than a fourth part of the whole series 
came from the editor's  ceaseless pen4  
,even the ,king was persuaded to        
contribute two letters  under the nom de
 plume of ,ralph ,robinson1 his ,windsor
 shepherd4  ,young related with much    
pride that ,his ,majesty said to him one
 day on  the terrace of ,windsor3 ,mr4  
,young1 ,i consider myself as more      
obliged  to you than to any other man in
 my ,dominions2 while the ,queen        
observed that they never travelled      
without a copy of the ,annals in  the   
,royal carriage4 ,these volumes created 
quite a stir in ,european  circles1 and 
from all parts of the ,continent there  

flocked scholars to  study at the feet  
of the ,abelard of ,english             
,agriculture4 ,a year later  ,young's   
mother died and ,bradfield ,hall and    
farm became his property4    ,if ,tull  
was the founder of dry-farming1 and     
,coke the father of the  experimental   
farm1 ,young was unquestionably the     
author of the  agricultural tour4 ,from 
his fertile pen flowed ,the ,southern1  
,the  ,northern1 and ,the ,eastern      
,tours1 together with ,the ,tour in     
,ireland4 ,the first three tours were   
translated into ,russian by the  express
 command of the ,empress ,catherine1 who
 at the same time sent  several young   
,russians to reside at ,bradfield for   
instruction in  ,british agriculture4   
,it was his own opinion that the most   
useful  feature of the tours was the    
practical information which they gave on
  the important subject of the correct  
courses of crops1 on which all          
preceding writers had been silent4 ,his 
most famous and most popular  work was  

his ,travels in ,france during the years
 #aghg1 #aghh and  #aghi4    ,yet these 
remarkable journeys were fore-shadowed  
twenty years before  in a little book he
 wrote entitled ,the ,farmer's ,letters 
to the ,people  of ,england1 in which he
 says3 ,the nobility and men of large   
fortune  travel1 but no farmers2        
unfortunately1 those who have this      
peculiar  and distinguishing advantage1 
the noble opportunity of benefiting     
themselves and their country1 seldom    
enquire or even think about             
agriculture4    ,then comes a sketch of 
a farmer's tour with the routes laid    
down for  the imaginary traveller1 being
 precisely those roads he himself was to
  follow two decades later4    ,in the  
year #aghg he received a pressing       
invitation from a ,polish  friend in    
,paris to join the ,count de la         
,rochefoucauld in a tour of the         
,pyrenees4 ,this was touching a string  
tremulous to vibrate1 he  writes3 ,i had
 long wished for an opportunity to      

examine ,france4 ,his  travels in       
,france were the sensation of the hour4 
,no one had done  quite the same thing  
before4 ,he was an eye-witness of the   
moving  scenes which ushered in the     
,french ,revolution4 ,his name was in   
everybody's mouth4 ,he received         
invitations to ,courts and salons4  ,all
 the learned societies enrolled him as a
 member4 ,his work was  translated into 
a score of languages4 ,princes1         
statesmen1 scientists1  men of letters1 
simple farmers and plain peasants paid a
 visit to  ,bradfield4 ,among his       
correspondents we note the names of     
,washington1  ,pitt4 ,burke1            
,wilberforce1 ,lafayette1 ,priestly and 
,jeremy ,bentham4 ,so  it happened that 
when the affluent ,coke of ,norfolk was 
holding a  ,continental sheep-shearing  
salon at ,holkham1 his indigent         
neighbour1  fifty miles to the south1   
was holding a ,european levee to discuss
 the  fundamental principles of rural   
economy4    ,four years later ,young's  

heart was broken by the death of his    
favourite daughter1 ,bobbin at the early
 age of fourteen4 ,he  developed        
religious melancholia1 shunned society1 
left his ,journal  blank and brooded    
over sermons4 ,his sight began to fail4 
,he was  operated on for cataract4      
,wilberforce1 warned to be careful1     
went1 a  week later1 to see him in the  
darkened room4 ,in his sweet and elegant
  voice the ,great ,emancipator spoke   
feelingly of the death of a mutual      
friend4 ,young burst into tears and     
became for ever blind4 ,the  remainder  
of his life was spent in preaching the  
,gospel to the  peasantry and in works  
of charity4 ,he died in the eightieth   
year of  his age in ,sackville ,street1 
,london1 and was buried at ,bradfield1  
,april1 #ahbj4    ,it is impossible in  
this brief article to do more than      
mention the  writings of ,young4 ,these 
we must reserve for a subsequent paper4 
,our  library is far from complete1 yet 
we possess sixty-six volumes of his     

sparkling prose1 which1 placed one upon 
another1 attain to a height of  nine    
feet--a monument of amazing industry4   
,true1 he was not exempt  from those    
petty jealousies which so often mar the 
character of  eminent men4 ,he tried to 
snatch some credit for the ,board of    
,agriculture from ,sir ,john ,sinclair1 
and he scoffed at the idea that  ,jethro
 ,tull had invented the corn-drill4 ,he 
met and conversed with the  greatest    
savants of the age1 yet his mind never  
burst the old wine  bottles which he    
served out in the ,suffolk store4 ,and  
so he arrogantly  says that ,canada and 
,nova ,scotia are not worth colonising4 
,if they  continue poor1 they will be no
 markets4 ,if rich they will revolt2 and
  that perhaps is the best thing they   
can do for our interest4 444  ,the loss 
of ,india must come4 ,it ought to come4 
,yet with all his  foolish fancies what 
a splendid life6 ,for he was the        
,prophet of the  ,new ,agriculture in   
the ,valley of ,dry ,bones4 ,and        

,england may well write  the epitaph of 
her illustrious son in the words of     
,ezekiel3 ,this land  that was desolate 
is become like the ,garden of ,eden4    
,,chapter ,,iv      ,,john ,,sinclair3  
,,founder ,,of ,,the ,,board ,,of       
,,agriculture      ,one of the earliest 
recollections of the writer's childhood 
as he  fished for trout in the ,swiney  
,burn in the far ,north of ,scotland1   
was  the tale of a certain wonderful man
 that was wont to tie little shoes  on  
the feet of his sheep in order to keep  
them warm while walking  through the    
snow4 ,but many a trout had to be       
caught1 and many a ripple  of the       
shining river had to pass beneath the   
,thurso ,bridge ere he  learned the name
 of the strange person who struck his   
childish fancy  as he looked up from his
 quivering line into the wistful eyes of
 a  ,cheviot ewe on the lonely1         
wine-red1 moor4    ,sir ,john ,sinclair1
 the founder of the ,british ,board of  
,agriculture1  was born in ,thurso      

,castle in the county of ,caithness1 on 
,may #ajth1  #aged4 ,his father1 ,george
 ,sinclair1 the ,laird of ,ulbster1 was 
a  descendant of the ,earls of          
,caithness and ,orkney2 while his       
mother1  ,lady ,janet ,sutherland of    
,dunrobin1 was the sister of the        
sixteenth  ,earl of that name4 ,as a    
child he was carefully and wisely       
trained by  his parents4 ,from his      
father1 a man of literary tastes and    
deeply  religious character1 he         
inherited a love of books2 and from his 
gentle  mother1 he learned the lesson   
that life is not an empty dream2 and her
  lad was soon to be known as the most  
indefatigable man in ,europe4    ,john  
was educated at the ,royal ,school of   
,edinburgh1 and at the  ,university of  
the same city which he entered at the   
early age of  thirteen4 ,he also studied
 at ,glasgow1 and at ,trinity ,college1 
,oxford4  ,he was called to the ,bar in 
#aghb4 ,his father died suddenly when   
,john  was sixteen1 and he found himself

 heir to ,estates comprising some       
#ajj1jjj acres1 mainly bleak and barren 
moor4 ,he at once began to  improve his 
property4    ,scottish agriculture was  
then in a most backward state4 ,the     
fields  were unenclosed1 the lands were 
undrained4 ,the small farmers of        
,caithness were so poor that they could 
hardly afford to keep a horse1  or even 
a ,shetland pony4 ,the burdens were     
chiefly borne by women4  ,indeed1       
according to ,smiles1 if a cottar lost a
 horse1 it was not  unusual for him to  
marry a wife as the cheapest substitute4
    ,the country was without roads or   
bridges4 ,drovers taking their cattle   
to the ,south had to swim rivers        
alongside their beasts4 ,the chief      
track leading into the country lay along
 the high shelf of a mountain  called   
,ben ,cheilt2 the path being several    
hundred feet above the  storm-tossed    
sea1 which thundered on the rocks below4
    ,imagine the loud laughter of the   
elders of this community when they      

heard a rumour that young ,sinclair     
proposed to build in a single day a     
road over this hitherto impassable hill4
 ,but ,john surveyed the road  himself1 
and ordered up the ,statute labour4 ,at 
that time the law  decreed that all     
capable inhabitants of the agricultural 
class should  work on the roads for six 
days in every year4 ,and so1 early one  
summer  morning1 he assembled the       
neighbouring farmers and their          
servants--a  total of #a1bfj4 ,each     
party1 on arrival1 was assigned a       
certain piece  of the path where they   
found tools and provisions awaiting     
them4 ,at  sunset of the same evening   
the youth drove his carriage and pair   
over  six miles of mountain road which  
the night before had been a dangerous   
sheep-track4 ,tidings of this exploit by
 a stripling of eighteen spread  far and
 wide1 and spurred the sleeping spirit  
of the ,north4    ,at the age of        
twenty-six1 ,john ,sinclair was elected 
member of  ,parliament for the county of

 ,caithness1 and remained in the ,house 
of  ,commons for upwards of thirty      
years4           99       99       99   
99       99    ,the great monument to   
,sinclair's indefatigable industry is   
his  ,statistical ,account of ,scotland 
in twenty-one volumes1 one of the  most 
valuable works on agriculture ever      
published in any country4 ,it  took     
seven years and seven months of         
incessant labour to complete4 ,it  was  
then that the word statistics and       
statistical were first  introduced into 
the ,english language by ,sinclair4 ,he 
made use of the  clergy to obtain the   
information he desired4 ,he sent a      
circular letter  to each parish minister
 in ,scotland with #afj questions under 
four  heads3 7#a7 ,geography and        
,natural ,history4 7#b7 ,population4    
7#c7  ,production4 7#d7 ,miscellaneous  
subjects4    ,in the collection of data 
many difficulties occurred4 ,some of the
  clergy scorned the idea that one man  
could collect and collate all  this     

information3 others were lazy both in   
mind and body3 and some  were old and   
infirm4 ,several parishes were vacant1  
some too huge to  fully cover1 many were
 without roads1 and not a few separated 
by  tempestuous arms of the sea4 ,to    
overcome these obstacles he enlisted    
the aid of the leaders of the ,church of
 ,scotland1 of which he was a  member1  
and the great landowners1 and as a last 
resort he employed  statistical         
missionaries to supply the missing      
information4 ,he  generously assigned   
all the profits of this publication to  
the  ,scottish ,fund for the benefit of 
the sons of the clergy1 and obtained    
for that ,society a ,royal grant of     
#b1jjj4 ,among the direct results of    
this work was the raising of the        
stipends of ministers and               
schoolmasters--surely a convincing reply
 to his critics in the  manses--the     
abolition of what was then called       
thirlage or the  compulsory grinding of 
corn at a particular mill4 ,charles     

,abbot1  afterwards ,lord ,colchester1  
the originator of the census of         
,england1  wrote to ,sinclair3 ,your    
success suggested to me the idea1 and   
the  various bureaux of statistics in   
the ,united ,states and other countries 
can be directly traced to the influence 
of his treatise4    ,in the year #aghh  
,sinclair founded the ,wool ,society4   
,for some time he  had been wondering   
why ,shetland wool was so extremely     
fine4 ,meeting at  the ,general         
,assembly in ,edinburgh a ,shetland     
minister1 he put the  question to him   
and obtained much valuable information  
which he at  once laid before the       
,highland ,society4 ,this led him to    
form the  ,british ,wool ,society4 ,it  
was inaugurated by a grand              
sheep-shearing  festival at ,newhall's  
,inn1 ,queensferry1 near ,edinburgh1 in 
the year  #agia4 ,to ,sinclair1         
therefore1 belongs the credit of        
initiating the  sheep-shearing contests 
which a few years later developed into  

,coke's  famous clippings1 and which    
were the precursors of our present      
agricultural shows4 ,the first          
agricultural show was held by the       
,highland and ,agricultural ,society at 
,edinburgh in #ahbb4 ,it was the  ,long 
,hill sheep of the ,east ,border that   
,sinclair re-christened by the  now     
famous name of ,cheviot4 ,these sheep   
soon became naturalised all  over the   
north of ,scotland1 and in a short time 
the rent of sheep  firms rose to        
fabulous prices4 ,pastures of little    
value under  coarse-woolled sheep       
yielded large returns4 ,as an           
illustration of  the practical value of 
his improvements it may be mentioned    
that  ,sinclair's estate of ,langwell1  
which he had bought for #h1jjj1  he     
afterwards sold for #dj1jjj3 while the  
estate of ,reay in  ,sutherlandshire was
 purchased at #cjj1jjj4 ,the name       
,cheviot comes  from the range of       
rounded or cone-shaped hills growing a  
superior  pasture on the ,scottish and  

,english border4    ,in the opening     
lines of this article ,i spoke of a     
childish tale about  sheep-shearing4    
,that this legend is not mere fiction   
may be seen in  the following letter of 
,arthur ,young 7see ,autobiography of   
,arthur  ,young1 page #aei73 ,from ,sir 
,j4 ,sinclair on clothing for sheep     
which  he sent and desired me to buy4 ,i
 did so1 and the rest of the flock  took
 them1 ,i suppose1 for beasts of prey1  
and fled in all directions1  till the   
clothed sheep1 jumping hedges and       
ditches1 soon derobed  themselves4      
99       99       99       99       99  
,in his third lecture in the ,crown of  
,wild ,olives1 ,ruskin points out  that 
all the pure and noble arts of peace are
 founded on war4 ,it is  worth while1   
therefore1 to note that the ,british    
,board of ,agriculture  was established 
when ,britain was engaged in the supreme
 struggle with  ,france1 which          
terminated on the field of ,waterloo1   
that the ,national  ,department of      

,agriculture in the ,united ,states was 
inaugurated in  the midst of the ,civil 
,war1 and that the ,transvaal           
,department of  ,agriculture was        
commenced ere peace was signed at       
,vereeniging4 ,in  the year #agic       
,sinclair's services in restoring       
commercial confidence  during the crisis
 which occurred at the outbreak of the  
,french ,war  were recognised by ,pitt1 
who sent for him to come to ,downing    
,street1  thanked him on behalf of the  
,government1 and asked him if there was 
anything that he desired4 ,sinclair     
replied that he sought no favours  for  
himself1 but the most gratifying of all 
would be the establishment  by          
,parliament of a great ,national        
,corporation to be called ,the ,board   
of ,agriculture4 ,in due course the     
,board was successfully established     
with the ,king as ,patron1 ,sinclair as 
,president1 and ,arthur ,young as       
,secretary4 ,the annual ,parliamentary  
grant was #c1jjj4    ,in this brief     

review we have no space to follow the   
fortune of the  ,board to the date of   
the retirement of its inspiring founder1
 down to  the time when it returned     
#db1jjj to the ,treasury--not knowing   
how to  spend it--till it finally faded 
away in the year #ahbb4 ,yet the ,board 
accomplished much imperishable work4 ,it
 carried out agricultural  surveys1     
published several volumes of            
communications1 promoted prize  essays  
on rural topics1 encouraged ,elkington1 
the father of drainage1  ,macadam the   
road-maker1 and ,meikle1 the inventor of
 the threshing  machine1 and arranged   
lectures by ,sir ,humphry ,davy on      
agricultural  chemistry1 and by ,young  
on tillage4    ,the north of ,scotland  
at that period owed much to ,sinclair4  
,in #aghb  he saved the inhabitants from
 a serious famine by obtaining a        
,parliamentary grant of #ae1jjj4 ,in the
 same year1 along with some  other      
patriots1 he secured the repeal of the  
law which for  thirty-seven years--since

 the ,rebellion of #agde--;had forbidden
 the  use of the kilt4    ,sinclair was 
an enthusiastic tree-planter in a       
country which was once  wittily         
described by an ,american visitor as a  
,great ,clearing4 ,he  rebuilt ,thurso1 
and founded the herring fisheries at    
,wick4 ,to ensure  the success of this  
industry he imported ,dutch fishermen to
 teach the  ,caithnessmen the art of    
catching and curing herrings4 ,he       
introduced  improved methods of tillage1
 a regular rotation of crops1 and the   
cultivation of turnips1 clover1 and     
rye-grass4 ,one of his many schemes  was
 a ,general ,enclosure ,bill1 his toast 
at agricultural gatherings  being3 ,may 
a ,common become an ,uncommon ,spectacle
 in ,caithness4    ,in #aghf his        
attachment to ,william ,pitt was        
rewarded with a baronetcy4  ,sir ,john's
 domestic life was singularly happy4 ,on
 referring to the old  book already     
mentioned1 we read3 ,he has been twice  
married to two of  the most beautiful   

women in the island4 ,his first lady1 a 
,miss  ,maitland1 died prematurely in   
the bloom of youth4 ,his present lady is
  the daughter of the late ,lord        
,macdonald1 and by her he has a son1    
,george1 and other children4    ,it     
cannot be doubted that ,sir ,john loved 
the limelight1 possessed an  unbounded  
self-conceit1 lacked the saving sense of
 humour1 and  over-estimated his own    
achievements4 ,but these vanities were  
but the  fitful smoke in the blue flame 
of a burning energy4 ,what a lesson in  
industry for the youth of ,south        
,africa4 ,fifty years of ceaseless toil1
  author of thirty-nine volumes and #cfg
 pamphlets4 ,this ,scottish             
agriculturist died in #ahce at the ripe 
age of eighty-one1 and is  buried       
according to an ancient family rite1 in 
,holyrood ,chapel at  ,edinburgh--the   
friend and confidant of three ,english  
kings4          ,,chapter ,v            
,,cyrus ,h4 ,mc,c,o,r,m,i,c,k3          
,,inventor ,,of ,,the ,,reaper          

,i expect to die in harness1 because    
this is not the world for      rest4    
,this is the world for work4 ,in the    
next world we will have      the        
rest4--,cyrus ,h4 ,mc,cormick4    ,it is
 hardly to be expected that those people
 who devoutly chant in a  million       
churches the fourth sentence of the     
,lord's ,prayer should think  with      
gratitude of any other person than the  
,divine ,giver of all ,good4  ,yet it is
 strange to reflect that although every 
schoolboy knows  something of the life  
of our least ,poet ,laureate1 not one in
 ten  thousand could tell you the career
 of the man who responded in a  truly   
miraculous manner to the heartfelt1     
world-voiced matin of both  rich and    
poor1 ,give us this day our daily bread4
    ,cyrus ,h4 ,mc,cormick1 the inventor
 of the reaping machine1 was born in    
the eventful year #ahji4 ,it was the    
birth year of ,darwin and ,tennyson1  of
 ,mendelssohn1 ,gladstone1 and ,lincoln4
 ,he was born on ,walnut ,grove  ,farm1 

amidst the mountains of ,virginia1 one  
hundred miles from the  sea4 ,he came of
 that virile stock that has proved to be
 the main  strength of the ,republic1   
that gave ,washington thirty-nine of his
  generals1 three out of four members of
 his ,cabinet1 and three out  of the    
five judges of the ,supreme ,court--the 
,scots who migrated to  ,ulster1 and    
thence to the ,united ,states4 ,robert  
,mc,cormick1 the father  of ,cyrus1 was 
a fairly large farmer1 and an inventor  
of no mean  ability4 ,the little log    
workshop is still shown to the enquiring
  tourist where father and son moulded  
and mended machinery on many a  rainy   
day4 ,indeed1 we are told that the      
,mc,cormick homestead was more  like a  
small factory than a farmer's home1 so  
full was it of rural                    
industries--spinning and weaving1 soap  
and shoes1 butter-making and            
bacon-curing4 ,and it is more than      
likely that the ceaseless activity  of  
his wise and ,celtic mother taught      

,cyrus the value of each moment  of     
time4    ,ever since he was a child of  
seven it was his father's ambition to   
invent a reaper4 ,he made one1 and tried
 it in the harvest of #ahaf1 but  it    
proved a failure4 ,it was a fantastic   
machine1 pushed from behind  by two     
horses4 ,it was highly ingenious1 but it
 would not cut the corn1  and was hauled
 off the field to become one of the     
jokes of the  countryside4 ,hurt by the 
jests of his neighbours1 he locked the  
door  of his workshop and toiled away at
 night4 ,early in the summer of #ahca   
he had so improved his reaper that he   
gave it another trial4 ,again it        
failed4 ,true1 the machine cut the corn 
fairly well1 but it flung it  on the    
ground in a tangled heap4 ,satisfied    
that there was something  radically     
wrong1 ,robert ,mc,cormick gave up the  
reaper after having  worked at it for   
over fifteen years4    ,at this point   
,cyrus took up the task which his father
 had reluctantly  abandoned4 ,he showed 

his genius from the very start by       
adopting a new  principle of operation4 
,first of all1 he invented the divider  
to  separate the corn to be cut from the
 corn left standing4 ,next came the     
reciprocating blade1 and the fingers1   
the revolving reel1 platform1  and side 
draught1 and1 lastly1 the big driving   
wheel4 ,one day late in  the month of   
,july1 in the summer of #ahca1 ,cyrus   
put a horse between  the shafts of his  
reaper4 ,with no spectators save his    
father and  mother1 his brothers and    
sisters1 he drove down to a patch of    
yellow  grain4 ,to that little family   
circle it must have been a moment of    
intense excitement4 ,click1 click1      
click--the white blade shot to and  fro4
 ,what a shout of joy6 ,the wheat is cut
 and falls upon the platform  in a      
golden1 shimmering swathe6    ,thus at  
the early age of twenty-two ,cyrus had  
invented the first  practical reaper    
that the world had seen4 ,and now began 
his nine  years' struggle with          

adversity1 from which he emerged in     
triumph to  become the greatest         
manufacturer of harvesting machines that
 ,america  has produced4 ,in order to   
obtain funds with which to manufacture  
reapers he started to farm4 ,but he soon
 found that it was impossible  to raise 
sufficient capital by this means4 ,near 
by was a large  deposit of iron ore1 and
 he forthwith resolved to build a       
furnace and  make iron4 ,he persuaded   
his father and the school teacher to    
become  his partners4 ,for several years
 the furnace did fairly well1 when1     
suddenly1 the price of iron fell4 ,the  
,mc,cormicks were bankrupt4 ,cyrus  gave
 up the farm1 and stuck grimly to his   
reaper4 ,one day the village  constable 
rode up to the farm door with a summons 
for a debt of  nine-teen dollars1 but he
 was so impressed with the industry of  
the  ,mc,cormicks that he had not the   
heart to serve the notice4 ,it was the  
darkest hour before the dawn4           
99       99       99       99       99  

,the same year 7#ahdj7 a stranger rode  
in from the north and drew rein  in     
front of the little log workshop4 ,he   
was a rough looking man with  the homely
 name of ,abraham ,smith1 but to ,cyrus 
he came as an angel  of light4 ,he had  
come with fifty dollars in his pocket to
 buy a  reaper--the first that was ever 
sold4 ,a short time later two other     
farmers came on the same errand1 and    
that summer three reaping  machines were
 working in the wheat-fields of         
,america4 ,in #ahdb  ,mc,cormick sold   
seven machines1 and in #ahdd fifty4 ,the
 home farm had  now become a busy       
factory4    ,three years later a friend 
said to him ,cyrus1 why don't you go    
,west  with your reaper1 where the land 
is level and labour cheap8    ,it was   
the call of the ,west4    ,he travelled 
over the boundless prairies1 and was    
quick to see that  this great land-ocean
 was the natural home of the reaper4    
,straightway  he transferred his factory
 to ,chicago--then1 in #ahdg1 a forlorn 

little  town of less than #aj1jjj souls4
 ,his business flourished4 ,in the      
great fire of #ahga his factory1 which  
was then turning out #aj1jjj  harvesters
 a year1 was totally destroyed4 ,at the 
word of his wife he  rebuilt it anew    
with amazing rapidity4 ,and so we find  
that the tiny  workshop in the backwoods
 of ,virginia has become the ,mc,cormick
 ,city  in the heart of ,chicago4 ,in   
the sixty-five years of its life this   
manufactory has produced over #f1jjj1jjj
 harvesting machines1 and is  now       
pouring them out at the rate of over    
#g1jjj per week4 ,the ,mc,cormick       
,company is now known as the            
,international ,harvester ,company1 and 
his  eldest son1 ,cyrus ,h4 ,mc,cormick1
 is the ,president4 ,the annual output  
is  #ge1jjj1jjj dollars4 ,it was the    
reaper that enabled the ,united ,states1
  during the four years of the civil    
war1 not only to feed the armies  in the
 field1 but at the same time to export  
to foreign countries  #bjj1jjj1jjj      

bushels of wheat4 ,and well might the   
savants of the ,french  ,academy of     
,science say1 when electing ,cyrus      
,mc,cormick a member1 that  he had done 
more for the cause of agriculture than  
any other living  man4    ,and now we   
must trace the evolution of the reaper  
from its origin on  the ,walnut ,grove  
,farm to the marvellous machine of      
to-day4 ,for about  thirty years it     
remained practically unaltered in       
design1 save that  seats had been added 
for the raker and the driver4 ,it did no
 more than  cut the grain and leave it  
in loose bundles on the ground4 ,it had 
abolished the sickler and cradler1 but  
there still remained the raker  and     
binder4 ,might it not be possible to do 
away with them also1 and  leave only the
 driver8 ,such was the fascinating      
problem which now  confronted the       
inventor4    ,in the year #aheb a       
bedridden cripple called ,jearum ,atkins
 bought a  ,mc,cormick reaper1 and had  
it placed outside his window4 ,to while 

away  the weary hours he actually       
devised an attachment with two revolving
  iron arms1 which automatically raked  
off the cut grain from the  platform to 
the ground4 ,it was a grotesque         
contrivance1 and was  nicknamed by the  
farmers the iron man4 ,nevertheless1    
this invention  stimulated the          
manufacture of self-rake reapers1 and   
soon the ,american  farmer would buy no 
other kind4 ,thus part of the problem   
had been  solved4 ,the raker was        
abolished4 ,but there still remained the
 harder  task of supplanting the        
binder--the man or the woman who        
gathered up  the bundles of cut corn and
 bound them tightly together with a wisp
  of straw into the sheaf4    ,and now  
another figure appears upon this        
ever-moving stage1 a young  man by the  
name of ,charles ,b4 ,withington4 ,born 
at ,akron1 ,ohio1 a year  before        
,mc,cormick invented his reaper1 this   
delicate youth was trained  by his      
father to be a watchmaker4 ,at the age  

of fifteen1 in order to  earn           
pocket-money1 he went into the harvest  
field to bind corn4 ,he  was not robust1
 and the hard1 stooping labour under a  
hot sun would  sometimes bring the blood
 to his head in a hemorrhage4 ,there    
were  times after the day's work was    
done when he was too weary to walk      
home1 and he would throw himself on the 
stubble to rest4 ,at eighteen  he       
journeyed to the goldfields of          
,california1 drifted to ,australia1  and
 in the year #ahee arrived back in      
,wisconsin with #c1jjj dollars in  his  
belt4 ,all this money he began to       
fritter away in trying to invent  a     
self-rake reaper4 ,suddenly1 inspired by
 the articles of a rural  editor1 who   
maintained that the binding of corn     
should be done by a  machine1           
,withington dropped his self-rake and   
went straight to work to  make a        
self-binder4 ,he completed his first    
machine in #ahgb1 but met  with much    
discouragement until1 two years later1  

he came across  ,mc,cormick4    ,their  
dramatic meeting is best told by ,mr4   
,herbert ,m4 ,casson in his  interesting
 volume1 entitled ,cyrus ,hall          
,mc,cormick3 ,his ,life and  ,work4     
,one evening in #ahgd a tall man2 with a
 box under his arm1 walked              
diffidently up the steps of the         
,mc,cormick home in ,chicago1 and rang  
the bell4 ,he asked to see ,mr4         
,mc,cormick1 and was shown into the     
parlour1 where he found ,mr4            
,mc,cormick1 sitting1 as usual1 in a    
large and comfortable chair4            
',my name is ,withington1' said the     
stranger2 ,i live in ,janesville1       
,wisconsin4 ,i have here a model of a   
machine that will automatically         
bind grain4'         ,now1 it so        
happened that ,mc,cormick had been kept 
awake nearly the       whole of the     
previous night by a stubborn business   
problem4 ,he       could scarcely hold  
his eyelids apart4 ,and when ,withington
 was in       the midst of his          

explanation1 with the intentness of a   
born       inventor1 ,mr4 ,mc,cormick   
fell fast asleep4 ,at such a reception  
to       his cherished machine          
,withington lost heart4 ,he was a       
gentle1       sensitive man easily      
rebuffed1 and so1 when ,mc,cormick      
aroused from       his nap1 ,withington 
had departed1 and was on his way back to
       ,wisconsin4 ,for a few seconds   
,mc,cormick was uncertain as to whether 
his visitor had been a reality or a     
dream4 ,then he awoke with a       start
 into instant action4 ,a great          
opportunity had come to him1 and        
he had let it slip4 ,he was at this time
 making self-rake reapers       and     
,marsh harvesters2 but what he          
wanted--what every reaper               
manufacturer wanted in #ahga--was a     
self-binder4 ,he at once called         
one of his trusted workmen4         ',i 
want you to go to ,janesville1' he said4
 ,find a man named       ,withington and
 bring him to me by the first train that

 comes back       to ,chicago4'         
,the next day ,withington was brought   
back1 and treated with the       utmost 
courtesy4 ,mc,cormick studied his       
invention1 and found it to       be a   
most remarkable mechanism4 ,two steel   
arms caught each bundle       of grain1 
whirled a wire tightly around it1       
fastened the two ends       together    
with a twist1 cut it loose1 and tossed  
it to the ground4       ,this           
self-binder was perfect in all its      
details--as neat and       effective a  
machine as could be imagined4           
,mc,cormick was delighted4       ,at    
last1 here was a machine that would     
abolish the binding of grain       by   
hand4    ,for six years all went well   
with the ,mc,cormick and ,withington    
self-binder4 ,this wonderful            
wire-twisting machine was working       
everywhere with clockwork precision1 and
 was believed to be the best  that human
 ingenuity could devise4 ,all at once   
the manufacturing world  was startled   

with the news that ,william ,deering had
 made and sold  three thousand twine    
self-binders4 ,deering1 by this dramatic
 move  became in a flash ,mc,cormick's  
most powerful competitor4 ,he was not a 
farmer's son1 like the latter1 being    
bred in the city and trained in a       
factory4 ,he had been a successful      
merchant at ,maine1 then left it to     
enter the harvester trade4 ,he staked   
his whole fortune on making twine       
binders4 ,he won1 and ,mc,cormick was   
forced to follow in his wake4 ,the      
evolution of the reaper into the twine  
self-binder was an epoch-making  event  
in the agricultural world4 ,it          
enormously increased the sales4 ,in     
#ahhj1 #fj1jjj reapers were sold2 five  
years later the figures had risen  to   
#bej1jjj4 ,since then1 with the         
exception of the new knot-tying  device1
 there has been no real change in the   
reaper4 ,it remains the  grandest of all
 agricultural machines1 and one of the  
most astonishing  mechanisms ever       

devised by the brain of man4            
,mc,cormick died in #ahhd4 ,in the span 
of his own life the reaper was  born and
 brought to perfection4 ,he created it  
in a remote ,virginian  village1 and he 
lived to see his catalogue printed in   
twenty  languages1 and to know that so  
long as the human race continues to eat 
bread the sun will never set on the     
,empire of his reaper1 for  somewhere1  
in every month in all the year1 you will
 find the corn  white unto the harvest4 
99       99       99       99       99  
,r4 ,,clay ,,and ,,sons1 ,,ltd41        
,,brunswick ,,st41 ,s4,e41 ,,and        
,,bungay1 ,,suffolk4             99     
99       99       99       99      ,,the
 ,,rural ,,science ,,series    ,edited  
by ,professor ,l4 ,h4 ,,bailey          
,,the ,,soil4 ,by ,f4 ,h4 ,king4 #fs4   
#f;d4 net4      ,,the ,,fertility ,,of  
,,the ,,land4 ,by ,i4 ,p4 ,roberts4 #fs4
 #f;d4 net4      ,,the ,,spraying ,,of  
,,plants4 ,by ,e4 ,g4 ,lodeman4 #es4    
#f;d4 net1      ,,milk ,,and ,,its      

,,products4 ,by ,h4 ,h4 ,wing4 #fs4     
#f;d4 net4      ,,principles ,,of       
,,fruit ,,growing4 ,by ,l4 ,h4 ,bailey4 
#fs4 #f;d4 net4      ,,fertilizers4 ,by 
,e4 ,b4 ,voorhees4 #es4 #f;d4 net4      
,,irrigation ,,and ,,drainage4 ,by ,f4  
,h4 ,king4 #fs4 #f;d4 net4      ,,rural 
,,wealth ,,and ,,welfare4 ,by ,g4 ,t4   
,fairchild4 #es4 #f;d4 net4      ,,the  
,,farmstead4 ,by ,i4 ,p4 ,roberts4 #fs4 
#f;d4 net4      ,,the ,,principles ,,of 
,,agriculture4 ,edited by ,l4 ,h4       
,bailey4       #es4 #f;d4 net4          
,,the ,,principles ,,of ,,vegetable     
,,gardening4 ,by ,l4 ,h4 ,bailey4       
#fs4 #f;d4 net4      ,,garden-,,making4 
,by ,l4 ,h4 ,bailey4 #fs4 #f;d4 net4    
,,the ,,nursery ,,book4 ,by ,l4 ,h4     
,bailey4 #fs4 #f;d4 net4      ,,the     
,,pruning-,,book4 ,by ,l4 ,h4 ,bailey4  
#fs4 #f;d4 net4      ,,the              
,,forcing-,,book4 ,by ,l4 ,h4 ,bailey4  
#es4 #f;d4 net4      ,,plant ,,breeding4
 ,by ,l4 ,h4 ,bailey4 #es4 #f;d4 net4   
,,london3 ,,macmillan ,,and ,,co41      

,,ltd4             99       99       99 
99       99      ,,the ,,rural ,,science
 ,,series    ,edited by ,professor ,l4  
,h4 ,,bailey        ,,farm ,,poultry4   
,by ,g4 ,c4 ,watson4 #fs4 #f;d4 net4    
,,the ,,feeding ,,of ,,animals4 ,by ,w4 
,h4 ,jordan4 #fs4 #f;d4 net4      ,,the 
,,farmer',s ,,business ,,handbook4 ,by  
,i4 ,p4 ,roberts4 #cs4 #f;d4 net4       
,,the ,,diseases ,,of ,,animals4 ,by    
,nelson ,s4 ,mayo4 #hs4 #f;d4 net4      
,,how ,,to ,,choose ,a ,,farm4 ,by      
,prof4 ,t4 ,f4 ,hunt4 #gs4 #f;d4 net4   
,,bush ,,fruits4 ,by ,f4 ,w4 ,card4 #fs4
 #f;d4 net4      ,,forage ,,crops4 ,by  
,e4 ,b4 ,voorhees4 #fs4 #f;d4           
,,bacteria ,,in ,,relation ,,to         
,,country ,,life4 ,by ,prof4 ,jacob ,g4 
,lipman4       #fs4 #f;d4 net4          
,,fruit-,,growing ,,in ,,arid ,,regions4
 ,by ,w4 ,paddock and ,o4 ,b4 ,whipple4 
#fs4 #f;d4 net4      ,,rural ,,hygiene4 
,by ,prof4 ,henry ,n4 ,ogden1 ,c4,e4    
#fs4 #f;d4 net4      ,,dry-,,farming4   
,by ,john ,a4 ,widtsoe4 #fs4 #f;d4 net4 

,,law ,,for ,,the ,,american ,,farmer4  
,by ,john ,b4 ,green4 #fs4 #f;d4 net4   
,,the ,,training ,,and ,,breaking ,,of  
,,horses4 ,by ,merritt ,w4 ,harper4     
#as4 #f;d4 net4      ,,farm ,,boys ,,and
 ,,girls4 ,by ,william ,a4 ,mc,keever4  
#fs4 #f;d4 net4      ,,sheep-,,farming  
,,in ,,north ,,america4 ,by ,john ,a4   
,craig4 #fs4 #f;d4 net4                 
,,co-,,operation ,,in ,,agriculture4 ,by
 ,g4 ,harold ,powell4 #fs4 #f;d4 net4   
,,london3 ,,macmillan ,,and ,,co41      
,,ltd4             99       99       99 
99       99      ,transcriber's ,notes  
,all small caps formatted text has not  
been converted to ,,all ,,caps to       
distinguish them from titles which were 
printed as all caps4 ,the  birth year   
for ,thomas ,william ,coke is reported  
on ,page #ag as #ageb2  page #cf states 
,coke died in #ahdb at the age of       
eighty-eight2 and  ,wikipedia reports   
,coke was born on #f ,may #aged and died
 #cj ,june #ahdb  7aged #hh74 ,so1 the  
year of ,coke's birth on page #ag should

 probably be  #aged4 ,wikipedia shows   
that a gravestone has been placed on    
,mr4 ,tull's  resting place4