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diff --git a/40670-8.txt b/40670-8.txt deleted file mode 100644 index b522143..0000000 --- a/40670-8.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,1822 +0,0 @@ -Project Gutenberg's Makers of Modern Agriculture, by William Macdonald - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with -almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or -re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included -with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org - - -Title: Makers of Modern Agriculture - -Author: William Macdonald - -Release Date: September 5, 2012 [EBook #40670] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MAKERS OF MODERN AGRICULTURE *** - - - - -Produced by Tom Cosmas - - - - - - - - -Transcriber's Note - - Italic text is denoted by _underscores_ and bold text by =equal - signs=. - - - - -MAKERS OF - -MODERN AGRICULTURE - - - - -[Illustration] - -MACMILLAN AND CO., Limited - -LONDON · BOMBAY · CALCUTTA · MELBOURNE - - -THE MACMILLAN COMPANY - -NEW YORK · BOSTON · CHICAGO · DALLAS · SAN FRANCISCO - - -THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, Ltd. - -TORONTO - -[Illustration: Jethro Tull - -Founder of the Principles of Dry-Farming. 1674-1740.] - - - - -MAKERS OF MODERN AGRICULTURE - - -BY - - -WILLIAM MACDONALD, D.Sc. - -_Editor, "Agricultural Journal," Union Department of Agriculture, -South Africa; and Corresponding Secretary for the International -Dry-Farming Congress_ - - - - - -MACMILLAN AND CO., LIMITED - -ST. MARTIN'S STREET, LONDON - -1913 - - -_COPYRIGHT_ - - -Richard Clay and Sons, Limited, - -BRUNSWICK ST., STAMFORD ST., S.E., AND - -BUNGAY, SUFFOLK. - - - - -PREFACE - - -When it is remembered what a prominent part Agriculture plays in the -history of all Nations, it does seem strange that so little is known -of the lives of those pioneers who have been foremost in the discovery -of fundamental principles, improved methods, and labour-saving -machines. Perhaps it is that farmers as a whole are not specially fond -of reading. This, however, is not to be wondered at, 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 newspaper, or the -rose-tinted pictures of a rural magazine. Still, it is safe to -prophesy that the successful farmer of the future will not only be a -hard worker, but also a hard reader. And biography brings before us, -in a vivid manner, the onward march of modern Agriculture. - -It is also of interest to note how much Agriculture owes to men who -could scarcely be called practical farmers. Indeed, the author has -been impressed, contrary to common opinion, with the success of the -Townsman who takes to farming. But this is really no more surprising -than that the simple-hearted farm lad should forsake the Old Homestead -for the fascinations of the City, and by reason of his character, -courage, and industry, become in a few years the Captain of some great -commercial enterprise. There will always be the ceaseless ebb and -flow of the human tide between country lane and crowded street. But it -is surely our plain duty to do something to make the life of the -worker in the field less dull and lonely, and more attractive by the -erection of pleasant cottages and the establishment of rural -industries: while, at the same time, we try to brighten the life of -the toiler in the town by freehold garden lots and sunlit, open -spaces. - -I desire to thank the Editors of the several papers in which these -Sketches have appeared for kind permission to republish them in book -form: The _Graphic_ (Chapter I), The _Star_, Johannesburg (Chapter -II), the _Rand Daily Mail_ (Chapters III and IV), and the _Sunday -Post_ (Chapter V). To the _Journal_ of the Royal Agricultural Society -of England, I am indebted for the frontispiece (Jethro Tull), as well -as for much valuable information. - - Royal Agricultural Society of England, - 16, Bedford Square, London, - _September 1st, 1913._ - - - - -CONTENTS - - - PAGE - - Portrait of Jethro Tull _Frontispiece_ - - I. Jethro Tull 1 - - II. Coke of Norfolk 16 - - III. Arthur Young 39 - - IV. John Sinclair 54 - - V. Cyrus H. McCormick 68 - - - "One comfort is, that Great Men, taken up in any way, are - profitable company."--Carlyle. - - - - -MAKERS OF MODERN AGRICULTURE - - - - -CHAPTER I - - -JETHRO TULL : 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 maintain."_--Jethro Tull. - -Eight miles to the north-west of Reading, on a lovely reach of the -River Thames, lies the parish town of Basildon, in the County of -Berkshire. Here, in the year 1674, was born the man who revolutionized -British agriculture and laid the foundations for the "Conquest of the -Desert." Yet, strange as it may seem, until the other day Tull's -grave was unknown, and even now no monument marks the resting-place of -this illustrious husbandman. His family was of ancient and honourable -lineage, and he was heir to a competent estate. At seventeen he -entered his name on the register of St. John's College, Oxford; but he -did not proceed to a degree. Two years later he was admitted as a -student of Gray's Inn, and was, in due course, called to the Bar. It -is probable that Tull studied law not so much with the thought of -taking it up seriously as a profession, but simply in order to better -fit himself for a political career. Ill-health, however, made him turn -his attention to farming. At the age of twenty-five he married a lady -of good family, Miss Susanna Smith, of the County of Warwick, and then -settled down to farm in Oxfordshire. - -His first farm was Howberry, in the parish of Crowmarsh. The land of -this farm was fertile and renowned for heavy crops of both wheat and -barley. Here Tull lived and toiled for nine years, till at last his -health broke down and he was ordered south to the milder climate of -France and Italy. So he decided to sell a portion of his Oxfordshire -estate and send his family to another farm in Berkshire named -"Prosperous," situated in the parish of Shalbourne. After an absence -of three years Tull returned to "Prosperous Farm"--a place for ever -famous in the annals of agriculture. Here he lived for twenty-six -years to the close of his strenuous, chequered career. Of this farm, -Tull writes: "Situated on a little chalk on one side and heath on the -other, the soil is poor and shallow--generally too light and too -shallow to produce a tolerable crop of beans. This farm was made out -of the skirts of others; a great part was a sheep down with a full -reputation of poverty." - -While in Europe Tull took special note of the deep and careful -cultivation of the vineyards, where the tillage of the soil between -the rows of the grape vines was made to take the place of manuring the -land. On his return to England he tried this method at "Prosperous -Farm," first with turnips and potatoes, and then with wheat. And by -adopting this simple system with some few modifications of his own, he -was enabled to grow wheat on the same fields for thirteen years -continuously without the use of manure. - - * * * * * - -It was on his farm of Howberry that Tull invented and perfected his -drill in the year 1701. He has told the story of this invention in the -pages of his great work. Finding his plans for growing sainfoin[1] -hindered by the distaste of his labourers for his new methods, he -resolved to try to "contrive an engine to plant St. Foin more -faithfully than such hands would do. For that purpose I examined and -compared all the mechanical ideas that ever had entered my -imagination, and at last pitched upon a groove, tongue, and spring in -the sound-board of the organ. With these, a little altered, and some -parts of two other instruments, as foreign to the field as the organ -is, added to them, I composed my machine. It was named a drill, -because, when farmers used to sow their beans and peas in channels or -furrows by hand, they called that action drilling." And thus Tull's -drill, taken from the rotary mechanism of his favourite organ, is the -pioneer of all modern planters. His first invention was what he termed -a _drill-plough_ to sow wheat and turnip seed three rows at a time. - -[1] A leguminous plant cultivated for fodder. - -It was this invention that led Tull to enunciate his first principle -of tillage, namely, _drilling_. And it is the more amazing to reflect -that even after this long lapse of time many farmers still persist in -broadcasting their seed; for, as a recent authority working on the -semi-arid lands of Montana writes: "Sowing broadcast is bad at any -time, but in dry-farming it is suicidal." That the use of the drill -has everywhere effected an enormous saving of seed is common -knowledge; but let us hear what Tull has to say under this head: "Seed -(sainfoin) was scarce, dear, and bad, and enough could scarce be got -to sow, as was usual, seven bushels[2] to an acre. I examined and -thought the matter out, and found the greater part of the seed -miscarried, being bad, or too much covered. I observed, and counted, -and found when much seed had miscarried the crop was best." Here was -his second principle, _reduction of seed_, or, as we now say, -"thin-seeding," a practice which has been adopted by the dry-farmers -of Utah with remarkable success. - -[2] At the present time it is customary to sow from 80-100 lb. of -sainfoin seed per acre. - -Moreover, Tull was an ardent advocate of the weedless field, and he -saw, clearly enough, that dung was a serious menace to clean tillage, -as the seeds of troublesome weeds were apt to be scattered far and -wide over the farm. This led him to lay down as his third -principle--the _absence of weed_. But he certainly never, as is -sometimes said, condemned the use of manure. His experiments, however, -proved beyond the shadow of doubt that good crops might be grown -simply and solely by means of deep and constant tillage. So he says, -angrily: "The vulgar in general believe that I carried my farmyard -dung and threw it in a river. I have no river near; besides, my -neighbours buy dung at a good price; but it is known I neither sell -nor waste any dung. Against such lying tongues there is no defence." - -Nevertheless, many years after his part was taken by none other than -the great scientist of Rothamsted, the late Sir John Lawes, who wrote -as follows:-- - -"Tull was quite an original genius and a century in advance of his -time. I consider he has been most unjustly accused of not placing -sufficient value upon farmyard manure; he advocated cleanliness, and -saw that dung was a great carrier of weeds. 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 drill, I may -mention that so far as statistics will allow, I have ascertained the -average yield of the wheat crop of the world, and I am able to say -that the average yield is less than it is at the present time upon my -permanent wheat land, after more than sixty years absolutely without -manure. Here we have the result of Tull's three great -principles--_drilling, reduction of seed, and absence of weed_. If he -were alive now and were writing for the agriculture of the world, he -would, I think, be quite justified in saying everything he said in -regard to cleanliness and manure." - -As a result of his studies, travels, and experiments, Tull published -"The New Horse-Hoeing Husbandry: or an Essay on the Principles of -Tillage and Vegetation" in the year 1731. The great value of this work -is that it is founded not upon mere theory, but upon actual -experiments in the field. The fourth edition, which I have beside me, -consists of 426 pages, with several plates, and 23 chapters which -treat of the following subjects: Of Roots and Leaves; Of Food of -Plants; Of Pastures of Plants; Of Dung; Of Tillage; Of Weeds; Of -Turnips; Of Wheat; Of Smuttiness; Of Lucerne; Of Change of Species; Of -Change of Individuals; Of Ridges; Old and New Husbandry; Of Ploughs; -The Four-Coulter'd Plough; Of the Drill-Boxes; Of the Wheat-Drill: Of -the Turnip-Drill; Of the Hoe-Plough; with an appendix concerning the -making of the drill and the hoe-plough. - -Tull's idea--which was that by tillage soils might be constantly and -for ever reinvigorated or renewed--is summed up in his famous epigram, -"tillage is manure." He believed that the earth was the true and the -sole food of the plant, and, further, that the plant feeds and grows -by taking in minute particles of soil. And since these particles are -thrown off from the surface of the soil grains, it followed, -therefore, that the more finely the soil was divided the more numerous -the particles and the more readily the plant would grow. Although -Tull's theories were wrong, his practice has been followed by all -progressive farmers down to the present time. We now know that plants -do not absorb particles of earth, but take in food in solution. -Consequently, the more the particles of soil are broken up and -refined, the more plant food the roots can absorb. In this volume, -which must be counted an agricultural classic, Tull at once takes rank -as the foremost preacher of his time of the gospel of deep and perfect -tillage. And it is a work which, in the words of his great compeer, -Arthur Young, will "unquestionably carry his name to the latest -posterity." - -The botanical world has recently been illumined by the splendid -discovery of the principles of heredity set forth by Gregor Mendel, -and the foremost exponent of the new science, Professor Bateson, -writes as follows: "We have at last a brilliant method and a solid -basis from which to attack these problems, offering an opportunity to -the pioneer such as occurs but seldom even in the history of modern -science." Cannot we, as agriculturists, say the same with equal truth? -For, to our thinking, Jethro Tull bears the same relation to -dry-farming that Mendel does to plant-breeding. For if, on the one -hand, his drill-ploughs are the models from which have been derived -the marvellous agricultural machines of modern times, then, on the -other, his clean husbandry, his seed selection, his deep and constant -tillage are the fundamental principles in the great new science of -dry-farming. Nor should we forget that both Mendel and Tull -enunciated their principles only after long and patient experiment. - -The principles which we have adopted in our experiments on the -Government Dry-Land Station at Lichtenburg, in the Transvaal and which -we propose to follow on all stations hereafter to be established in -the Union of South Africa, are seven in number, namely: (1) Deep -ploughing; (2) drilling; (3) thin seeding; (4) frequent harrowing; (5) -weedless lands; (6) few varieties; and (7) moisture-saving fallows. -And we know full well that the more faithfully we adhere to this -scheme the richer shall be our harvests. But, after all, these -principles are merely the amplification, nothing more, of those -fundamental methods of tillage so plainly set forth, one hundred and -eighty-two years ago, by the genius of Jethro Tull. - -Tull died in the month of March, in the year 1740, at the age of -sixty-six. In speaking of agricultural education we have frequently -urged the benefits to be derived from a liberal education, and we like -to recall Tull's own words: "I owe my principles and practice -originally to my travels, as I owe my drill to my organ." Here indeed, -was a man of many parts--a famous agriculturist, an able mechanic, a -good musician, and a keen classical scholar. His life, strange to say, -was one dauntless struggle with disease. For six years he scarce ever -left his room, and seldom in that period was he gladdened by so much -as a glimpse of his "hundred acres of drilled wheat." 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 well. But the bells of the old -church of Saint Bartholomew now ring out with a new, glad message, -for they tell the toiling husbandmen of all lands to be of good cheer, -for the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose; while the winds -and the waters carry the echo of Tull's name down through the -corridors of time. - - - - -CHAPTER II - - -COKE OF NORFOLK: FATTIER OF EXPERIMENTAL FARMS - - - _"Seest thou a man diligent in his business? He shall stand - before Kings; he shall not stand before mean men."_ - -At the beginning of this article we have quoted a text taken from the -Proverbs of Solomon, which we believe can be applied more truthfully -to the subject of our paper than to any other name conspicuous in the -annuals of agriculture. For he was a man diligent in his business and -he stood before Kings. - -Thomas William Coke, of Holkham (Holy Home), Earl of Leicester, was -the eldest son of Robert Wenman. He was born in the year 1752, and -educated at Eton, after which he travelled abroad. On the death of his -father, Coke was elected in his place as member of Parliament for the -County of Norfolk. He was then in his twenty-second year. He entered -the youngest member; his political career extended over a period of -fifty-seven years, and he finished up as "Father of the House of -Commons." His domestic life was singularly happy--very different from -the sad state of his great contemporary Arthur Young. In 1775 he -married his cousin, Jane Dutton, by whom he had three daughters. After -her death in 1800 he remained a widower for twenty-one years and then -at the age of sixty-eight wedded a girl of eighteen, Lady Anne Keppel, -by whom he had five sons and one daughter. Coke had the unique -experience of being offered a Peerage seven times under six different -Prime Ministers, and he was the first commoner raised to the Peerage -by Queen Victoria on her accession to the Throne. In this connection -an amusing story is told. In the year 1817 Coke was called on to -present, at a Levee, a very forcible address to the Prince of Wales, -who was then acting as Regent, praying him "to dismiss from his -presence and Council those advisers, who, by their conduct, had proved -themselves alike enemies to the Throne and the people." The Regent was -warned of the proposal. Knowing that Coke valued his position as a -Commoner above everything else, he declared with an oath that: "If -Coke of Norfolk enters my presence, by God, I'll knight him." This -speech was repeated to Coke. "If he dares," was the rejoinder, "by God -I'll break his sword." - -Part of the estate or Holkham was formerly a series of salt marshes -on the coast of the North Sea. And when Coke came into his property in -1776--a fateful year in the history of the British Empire the -surrounding district was little better than a rabbit-warren, with long -stretches of shingle and sand. Soon after Coke's marriage, when his -wife remarked that she was going down to Norfolk, the witty old Lady -Townshend said, "Then, my dear, all you will see will be one blade of -grass and two rabbits fighting for that." 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 England, published in the year 1842. -The article containing it was written by Earl Spencer, and is of -special interest as he had it direct from the lips of Mr. Coke (then -Lord Leicester) a short time before his death. When Coke entered into -his heritage, he found that five leases were about to expire. These -farms were held at a rental of 3s. 6d. an acre; and in the previous -leases they had been valued at 1s. 6d. an acre. At that time the -agriculture of Norfolk was of the poorest character; and we may judge -of the quality of the Holkham land by comparing it with the average -rent of 10s. an acre which Arthur Young says prevailed at this time. -Coke sent for the two tenants, Mr. Brett and Mr. Tann, and offered to -renew their leases at a slightly higher figure, namely 5s. an acre. -Both refused; and Mr. Brett jeered at the suggestion, saying that the -land was not worth even the 1s. 6d. an acre which had originally been -paid for it. This curt refusal was enough for a man of Coke's -temperament. He forthwith decided to farm the land himself. It was -thus that a young man of twenty-two, possessor of a princely fortune, -fresh from the salons of Europe, suddenly turned his back on a gay -and fashionable world; and stung into action by the laughter of a lazy -tenant, took up the management of a sterile farm, raised a parish from -poverty to affluence, transformed a desolate county into a cornfield, -and left a name renowned in the annals of English agriculture. - - * * * * * - -In the history of agriculture, the name of Coke is chiefly remembered -by those famous gatherings locally known as "Coke's Clippings." These -wonderful meetings began in a simple way with the clipping or shearing -of sheep, but soon came to embrace the whole realm of the rural -industry. As might be imagined, when Coke took over the management of -his farms, he had not the slightest knowledge of the science and -practice of agriculture. So he called together his neighbours and -frankly asked their advice. - -They in turn were doubtless glad to meet a young man so keen and so -eager to learn. Soon they brought their friends and their relatives, -and two years later these little country gatherings had assumed a more -definite character, and were thereupon called "Coke's Clippings." Soon -agriculturists from all parts of Great Britain wrote to ask if they -might attend. Swiftly and steadily the fame of the "clippings" grew, -till presently scientific and other celebrated men from the United -States and the Continent travelled to England to take part in these -meetings. Year by year they increased in numbers till at last they -embraced every nationality, every profession, and every rank in life, -from Royalty to the poorest peasant. Holkham had, in fact, become a -great experimental farm--a private estate turned by the enterprise of -its owner into a public institution. Nowadays, we are familiar with -State experimental farms, which are visited by thousands of farmers -once or twice a year. But a century ago such a thing was unheard of, -and Coke may justly be termed the "Father of the Experimental Farm." -At these shearings Coke presented many cups and prizes for the -invention of any new agricultural implement, for suggestions with -regard to improved systems of cropping, of irrigation, of enriching -the soil, and for articles on agricultural subjects--in a word, to -every one who contributed to advance any branch whatsoever of the -agricultural industry. Moreover, we are told that at a meeting of 1803 -sweepstakes were offered for guessing the correct weight of a wether. -The winner was a certain Mr. Money Hill, who guessed the exact -weight--130 lbs.; while a butcher named Rett was a good second, and he -guessed the weights of four other sheep within one pound. It is said -that, one year, there died on the Holkham estate a tenant who had won -no less than £800 in prizes at the "clippings." Party politics were -carefully excluded from these meetings, and any attempt to introduce a -party spirit into the speeches at the annual dinners was at once -silenced by Coke. As a politician he was a prominent Whig, but as an -agriculturist he sank his politics and opened his doors to men of -merit irrespective of their views. Thus he gave Sir John Sinclair a -magnificent goblet as a token of his appreciation of Sinclair's "Code -of Agriculture," in spite of the fact that Sir John was a strong -supporter of the "vile Tories and their viler head, Mr. Pitt." Sir -John was pleased beyond measure and remarked, with a true Highland -courtesy, that hitherto the most priceless heirloom in his castle had -been the drinking cup of Mary Queen of Scots, but henceforth he would -look on the goblet of his Whig friend as his greatest treasure. - -The last of "Coke's Clippings" took place in the year 1821. It was -attended by seven thousand people, and lasted three whole days. There -is something very pleasing in the account of this pastoral scene. A -stately mansion in a splendid park, with a group of village maidens -spinning flax, on a velvet lawn, in the midst of a vast concourse of -people drawn from all parts of the earth. Punctually at ten o'clock in -the morning, so we read, Miss Coke came on to the lawn, accompanied by -her father, and the Duke of Sussex. Then after greetings taken and -greetings given, the vast crowd proceeded, some riding, some driving, -some walking, to inspect the different farms on the estate. The first -day was given up to the study of the inoculated pasture, prize -cattle, new implements, sheep-shearing amid farm crops. The second day -was devoted to fresh fields, farm schools and cottage gardens. The -third day was absorbed in the inspection of the carcases of animals -that had been slaughtered, speech-making, and the distribution of -prizes. On that day at 3 p.m., seven hundred guests sat down to -dinner, a mid-day meal, which, with the speeches and prizes lasted for -seven hours! The historian of this period has left us an account of -the most popular toasts at these annual banquets, such as "A Fine -Fleece and a Fat Carcase," "The Plough and a Good Use of It," while -the tribute to Coke's efforts to enclose all waste lands always -brought down the house, for it wittily ran: "The Enclosing of all -Waists," and Coke's own toast "Live and Let Live," was invariably -greeted with tumultuous applause. The two annalists who have left us -unimpeachable accounts of those memorable meetings are both agreed -that Coke himself was the central figure. Dr. Rigby, in "Holkham and -its Agriculture" (1818) writes: "He is everywhere and with everyone. -He solicits enquiry from everyone." At each halt in the ride little -knots of people collected round him and listened with absorbed -interest to all he said, while for hours he thus sustained the -character of leader, lecturer, and host. And the American Ambassador -of that day, His Excellency Mr. Richard Rush, writes in "A Residence -at the Court of London," "No matter what the subsequent advance of -English agriculture or its results, Mr. Coke will ever take honourable -rank among the pioneers of the great work. Come what will in the -future, the Holkham sheep-shearings' will live in English rural -annals. Long will tradition speak of them as uniting improvements in -agriculture to an abundant, cordial, and joyous hospitality." - -When Coke started to farm in Norfolk the value of rotation was -unknown. Then, it was customary to grow three white straw crops in -succession followed by broadcast turnips. It was not to be wondered at -that soil which consisted mainly of drifting sand and sharp, flinty -gravel should soon become worn out. Coke changed this practice and -grew only two white crops in succession and then let the land lie in -pasture for the next two years. He began to manure heavily; and used -rape-cake as a top dressing with marked success. Moreover, he found -that the soil of almost the whole district was composed of very light -sand and underlaid with a stratum of rich marl. Pits were opened, the -marl dug out, and scattered over the surface of the land. This not -only promoted fertility, but gave to the soil that solidity which is -so essential to the growth of wheat, It was Coke's proud boast that he -turned West Norfolk from a rye-growing into a wheat-growing district. -But it took him eleven years before he could get wheat to grow on the -poor, sandy soil of his own estate. Nevertheless, before he died, -these so-called "rabbit and rye" lands were yielding as much as -thirty-two bushels to the acre. His main idea was to stock heavily; -more for the sake of manure than for the sake of meat. He pinned his -faith on the motto: "Muck is the mother of money." And we are told -that he was accustomed to say to his tenants, "If you will keep an -extra yard of bullocks, I will build you a yard and sheds free of -expense." He was a patient man but he was once heard to remark: "It is -difficult to teach anything to adult ignorance. I had to contend with -prejudice, an ignorant impatience of change, and a rooted attachment -to old methods." He referred to the fact that the farmers still -persisted in the old system of sowing cereals broadcast, or else -laboriously made holes with a dibbing-iron into which the grain was -dropped, while another man followed with a rake and covered up the -holes. Thus he used the drill for sixteen years before any of his -neighbours could be induced to adopt it; and even when the farmers -began at last to see the benefit of this rapid manner of sowing, he -estimated that its spread was only a mile each year. By-and-by, -however, he noticed that a quaint term for a good crop of barley had -come into use at Holkham. His farmers spoke of "hat-barley" for the -reason that if a man throws his hat into a crop of barley, the hat -rests on the surface if the crop is good, but falls to the ground if -the crop is bad. "All sir," said his tenants at length, "is -'hat-barley' since the drill came." - - * * * * * - -Coke was never tired of experimenting with every kind of crop. -Cocksfoot (orchard grass) was cultivated with great success and -numbers of sheep were fattened on it. On land, once considered -worthless, he cut four hundred tons of sainfoin from one hundred and -four acres. He early recognised the merits of swedes, and was the -first to grow them on a large scale. He made a special study of birds -in relation to the eradication of grubs. 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 days. -Early in his career Coke discarded the native sheep of Norfolk, with -backs as narrow as rabbits, in favour of the Southdowns, and gradually -became one of the largest sheep-breeders in England. Encouraged by -the Duke of Bedford, another eminent agriculturist, he started a herd -of North Devons, and thereafter bred them with much success. He also -improved the Suffolk breed of pigs by crossing them with the -Neapolitan, thereby obtaining a superior quality of pork. -Afforestation was one of his special hobbies. He fully realised the -truth of the old saying that a tree is growing while its planter is -sleeping. Every year he planted fifty acres of timber, mostly oak, -Spanish chestnut, and beech, till he had three thousand acres of -bleak, wind-swept country well covered. He permitted the poor of the -neighbourhood to plant potatoes among his young trees for two or three -years; a practice which kept his land clean and saved the expense of -hoeing. And in the year 1832 he embarked in a ship built of oak from -the acorns which he himself had planted. - -He always maintained that the interests of landlord and tenant were -identical. In order, therefore, to encourage his tenants to exert -themselves to the utmost, he let out his farms on long leases of -twenty-one years at a moderate rental and burdened with but few -restrictions. He soon saw, however, that in the case of an indolent -tenant a long lease would mean the rapid deterioration of the -property. It happened at this time that a certain farmer named Mr. -Overman, who had been foremost in furthering the new agricultural -schemes, applied for a farm on the Holkham estate. Coke allowed him, -as an experiment, to draw up the covenants of his own lease. Overman -straightway inserted a clause making the improved course of cropping -compulsory. Coke was so pleased that he at once made this lease the -model for all his other tenants with a few slight modifications. And -so the land was fully protected from any possible injury through a -long period of bad farming. By such improved methods Coke is said to -have raised the annual rental of his estate from £2,200 to £20,000; -while the yearly fall of timber and underwood averaged £2,700--a sum -which exceeded the whole of his old rent roll. During his sixty-six -years at Holkham he spent over half a million pounds sterling on -improvements alone, without taking into account the large sums spent -on his house, domain, and home-farm buildings. Yet it is averred that -this vast outlay was all regained in due course. At that period the -Holkham estate consisted of 4,300 acres in a ring fence, with a park -of 3,500 acres surrounded by a ten-mile wall close to the sea. In a -volume entitled "Agricultural Writers" (1200-1800) by Donald -McDonald, the name of Coke does not appear. And it would seem that all -he ever wrote were some papers for the "Annals of Agriculture" (Arthur -Young), and a pamphlet on "An Address to the Freeholders of Norfolk." - -The biography of this remarkable man has recently been written in two -brightly bound and lavishly illustrated volumes by Mrs. A. M. W. -Stirling, under the title of "Coke and his Friends."[3] His memory -well deserved the laborious and loving tribute of his enthusiastic -great grand-child. But to be of any practical value to the -agriculturist, the book must be greatly condensed. Out of thirty-five -chapters we can find only five which tell of his services to the -agricultural industry. Out of a thousand odd pages we can find only -one hundred and sixteen which bear on the science and practice of -farming. Out of sixty-four carefully executed illustrations we can -only find four which have anything whatsoever to do with rural -affairs. It may be affirmed that Coke was much more than a mere -agriculturist. That is very true; but surely his fame rests far more -on his services to rural progress than on his reputation as a -politician, a society leader, or a landlord. 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 doings. Coke died in 1842 at the age of eighty-eight, and -was buried in the family mausoleum attached to the Tittleshall Church, -Norfolk. - -[3] Published by Mr. John Lane, London. - -In a life drama so vivid and forceful there are yet two vivid scenes -we cannot fail to recall. It was Coke who brought forward the motion -in the House of Commons to recognise the independence of the American -Colonies. All night long the House sat. At 8.30 a.m., the end came. -Amid breathless silence the result was announced 177 Noes, 178 Ayes. -It was Coke who announced to the obstinate, discomfited King the -result of that great debate, whereby the disastrous fratricidal war -was forever ended and the independence of the United States -acknowledged by the Parliament of the Mother Country, after nine -bitter years, by a majority of one vote. The Parish of Burnham lies -next to the Parish of Holkham. And the son of the rector of the former -village, a fragile, delicate lad, used sometimes to join Mr. Coke's -hounds when they were out coursing. But he was never asked to shoot, -as only once had he been known to hit a partridge. One day this poor -young man, returning from a two years' cruise paid a visit to his -wealthy neighbour and stayed overnight. The great-uncle of his host -built the mansion house of Holkham, and Thomas William Coke spent all -his life and a large fortune in developing the family estate. But the -British people placed Nelson, the frail and nervous guest, who slept -that night in the humble turret-room, on the top of the Column in the -centre of Trafalgar Square. - - - - -CHAPTER III - - -ARTHUR YOUNG: AUTHOR OF THE AGRICULTURAL TOUR - - - _"The magic of property turns sands into gold. Give a man the - secure possession of a bleak rock, and he will turn it into a - garden; give him a nine years' lease of a garden, and he will - convert it into a desert."_--Arthur Young. - -Arthur Young, the greatest of English agriculturists and the poorest -of practical farmers, was born at Whitehall, London, in the year 1741. -He was the youngest son of the Reverend Dr. Arthur Young, Prebendary -of Canterbury Cathedral, Rector of Bradfield, and of Anne Lucretia, -daughter of John de Cousmaker, a Dutchman who accompanied William of -Orange to England. From his father Arthur inherited good looks and -literary talent; and from his mother the love of learning and -brilliant and pleasing speech. - -Mrs. Young brought her clerical husband a large dowry, much of which -was swallowed up in the vortex of his debts, and later, on his death, -in promoting the agricultural schemes of her gifted but unbusinesslike -son. His home from the first, and for the most part of his life, was -Bradfield Hall in the County of Suffolk--a property which had been in -the hands of the Young family since the year 1672. After a visit to -Bradfield, reached from Marks Tey on the Great Eastern Railway, you do -not wonder at Young's early love of rural life. A broad, winding, -elm-bordered road, meadows knee-deep in wild flowers and waving -grasses, tangled hedges of eglantine and honeysuckle, rustling -cornfields and silent woods--these, all these, were the sweet pathways -to his home. - -At the age of seven the lad was sent to the Grammar School at Lavenham -in order to learn the Greek and Latin languages, together with writing -and arithmetic. Owing to the indulgence of a fond mother, his -attendance at his classes was irregular, and neither the centurions of -Cæsar nor the wooers of Penelope were able to beguile him from his -pony, his pointer and his gun. 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 1912. Here is the bill:-- - - "The Rev. Dr. Young to John Coulter (Master of Lavenham School), - Xmas, 1750 to Xmas, 1751. A year's board, etc., £15. Sundries, £2 - 4_s._ 4_d._ Total, £17 4_s._ 4_d._" - -On leaving Lavenham, he was apprenticed, at the wish of his mother, -to a wine-merchant at Lynn. He deserted his new work. He was fond of -music and the drama. He excelled in dancing, but was always a diligent -scholar. - -His income, in those days, was not excessive, being thirty pounds per -annum: but his foppery in dress deprived him of the means wherewith to -purchase his beloved books. Accordingly, he wrote a pamphlet entitled -"The Theatre of the Present War in North America," for which he -received ten pounds' worth of books from the publisher. More balls -compelled him to compile more political pamphlets in order to procure -more books. In the year 1759, at the age of eighteen, he left the -counting house at Lynn, as he tells us in his own words, "without -education, pursuits, profession or employment." That same year his -father died much in debt. - -He next went to London and started at his own expense a monthly -magazine called "The Universal Museum." It failed, and he returned -home. All his wealth was now summed up in a freehold farm of twenty -acres. His mother owned eighty acres at Bradfield. She persuaded him -to reside with her and to manage the farm. He had no knowledge of -agriculture, but he accepted, and tells the story in his own words: -"Young, eager, and totally ignorant of every necessary detail, it is -not surprising that I squandered large sums under golden dreams of -improvement." At the age of twenty-four he married Miss Martha Allen -of Lynn. One of his biographers says: "The marriage brought him an -enviable connection--troops of friends, a passport into brilliant -circles, but no fireside happiness. The lady was evidently of a -captious disposition, shrewish temper and narrow sympathies." Another -biographer writes: "A loving son, a devoted father, Young was an -indifferent husband." - -Having failed to make a success of his first farm, Young, nothing -daunted, undertook the cultivation of Sampford Hall in Essex. This -farm consisted of 300 acres of good arable land. But want of practical -knowledge, and want of capital, drove him from it, and after a five -years' tenancy he paid a farmer £100 to take it off his hands. His -successor made a fortune on it. But during these five years Young had -made a large number of experiments, the results of which he afterwards -published in two large volumes under the title of "A Course of -Experimental Agriculture." Still unshaken in his love of the soil, he -sought another farm, and the quest furnished materials for his "Six -Weeks' Tour through the Southern Counties," a very popular work which -ran through several editions. 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 Hertfordshire. This property had a good house, but that seems -to have been all. He was deceived by seeing it in a specially good -season. This speculation proved worse than the last; but his -picturesque pen never failed: "I know what epithet to give this soil. -Sterility falls short of the idea--a hungry, vitriolic gravel. I -occupied for nine years the jaws of a wolf." The simple fact was that -whenever he put pen to paper he was successful; whenever he turned to -practical farming he was a ruined man. - -He continued to write. His publisher called for more tours. His -receipts were considerable, yet we find him recording: "No carthorse -ever laboured as I did at this period, spending like an idiot, always -in debt, in spite of what I earned with the sweat of my brow, and -almost my heart's blood--the year's receipts £1,167." About this time -he wrote "Observations on the Present State of the Waste Lands of -Great Britain," and was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society. Finding -that he could not make enough to live on at farming, 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 week. Yet he -retained it for several years--walking seventeen miles down to his -farm every Saturday evening and returning to London every Monday -morning. - -In the year 1784 Young began the publication of the "Annals of -Agriculture"--a monthly publication which ran through forty-five -volumes. These annals covered the whole field of Agriculture in the -form of letters and essays from the most eminent ruralists of the age. -But more than a fourth part of the whole series came from the editor's -ceaseless pen. Even the King was persuaded to contribute two letters -under the _nom de plume_ of "Ralph Robinson," his Windsor shepherd. -Young related with much pride that His Majesty said to him one day on -the terrace of Windsor: "Mr. Young, I consider myself as more obliged -to you than to any other man in my Dominions"; while the Queen -observed that they never travelled without a copy of the "Annals" in -the Royal carriage. These volumes created quite a stir in European -circles, and from all parts of the Continent there flocked scholars to -study at the feet of the Abelard of English Agriculture. A year later -Young's mother died and Bradfield Hall and farm became his property. - -If Tull was the founder of dry-farming, and Coke the father of the -experimental farm, Young was unquestionably the author of the -agricultural tour. From his fertile pen flowed "The Southern," "The -Northern," and "The Eastern Tours," together with "The Tour in -Ireland." The first three tours were translated into Russian by the -express command of the Empress Catherine, who at the same time sent -several young Russians to reside at Bradfield for instruction in -British agriculture. 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 crops, on which all -preceding writers had been silent. His most famous and most popular -work was his "Travels in France during the years 1787, 1788 and -1789." - -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 England," in which he says: "The nobility and men of large fortune -travel, but no farmers; unfortunately, those who have this peculiar -and distinguishing advantage, the noble opportunity of benefiting -themselves and their country, seldom enquire or even think about -agriculture." - -Then comes a sketch of a farmer's tour with the routes laid down for -the imaginary traveller, being precisely those roads he himself was to -follow two decades later. - -In the year 1787 he received a pressing invitation from a Polish -friend in Paris to join the Count de la Rochefoucauld in a tour of the -Pyrenees. "This was touching a string tremulous to vibrate," he -writes: "I had long wished for an opportunity to examine France." His -travels in France were the sensation of the hour. No one had done -quite the same thing before. He was an eye-witness of the moving -scenes which ushered in the French Revolution. His name was in -everybody's mouth. He received invitations to Courts and salons. -All the learned societies enrolled him as a member. His work was -translated into a score of languages. Princes, statesmen, scientists, -men of letters, simple farmers and plain peasants paid a visit to -Bradfield. Among his correspondents we note the names of Washington, -Pitt. Burke, Wilberforce, Lafayette, Priestly and Jeremy Bentham. So -it happened that when the affluent Coke of Norfolk was holding a -Continental sheep-shearing salon at Holkham, his indigent neighbour, -fifty miles to the south, was holding a European levee to discuss the -fundamental principles of rural economy. - -Four years later Young's heart was broken by the death of his -favourite daughter, "Bobbin" at the early age of fourteen. He -developed religious melancholia, shunned society, left his Journal -blank and brooded over sermons. His sight began to fail. He was -operated on for cataract. Wilberforce, warned to be careful, went, a -week later, to see him in the darkened room. In his sweet and elegant -voice the Great Emancipator spoke feelingly of the death of a mutual -friend. Young burst into tears and became for ever blind. The -remainder of his life was spent in preaching the Gospel to the -peasantry and in works of charity. He died in the eightieth year of -his age in Sackville Street, London, and was buried at Bradfield, -April, 1820. - -It is impossible in this brief article to do more than mention the -writings of Young. These we must reserve for a subsequent paper. Our -library is far from complete, yet we possess sixty-six volumes of his -sparkling prose, which, placed one upon another, attain to a height of -nine feet--a monument of amazing industry. True, he was not exempt -from those petty jealousies which so often mar the character of -eminent men. He tried to snatch some credit for the Board of -Agriculture from Sir John Sinclair, and he scoffed at the idea that -Jethro Tull had invented the corn-drill. He met and conversed with the -greatest savants of the age, yet his mind never burst the old wine -bottles which he served out in the Suffolk store. And so he arrogantly -says that Canada and Nova Scotia are not worth colonising. "If they -continue poor, they will be no markets. If rich they will revolt; and -that perhaps is the best thing they can do for our interest." ... -"The loss of India must come. It ought to come." Yet with all his -foolish fancies what a splendid life! For he was the Prophet of the -New Agriculture in the Valley of Dry Bones. And England may well write -the epitaph of her illustrious son in the words of Ezekiel: "This land -that was desolate is become like the Garden of Eden." - - - - -CHAPTER IV - - -JOHN SINCLAIR: 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 Scotland, 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 snow. But many a trout had to be caught, 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 lonely, wine-red, moor. - -Sir John Sinclair, the founder of the British Board of Agriculture, -was born in Thurso Castle in the county of Caithness, on May 10th, -1754. His father, George Sinclair, the Laird of Ulbster, was a -descendant of the Earls of Caithness and Orkney; while his mother, -Lady Janet Sutherland of Dunrobin, was the sister of the sixteenth -Earl of that name. As a child he was carefully and wisely trained by -his parents. From his father, a man of literary tastes and deeply -religious character, he inherited a love of books; and from his gentle -mother, he learned the lesson that life is not an empty dream; and her -lad was soon to be known as "the most indefatigable man in Europe." - -John was educated at the Royal School of Edinburgh, and at the -University of the same city which he entered at the early age of -thirteen. He also studied at Glasgow, and at Trinity College, Oxford. -He was called to the Bar in 1782. His father died suddenly when John -was sixteen, and he found himself heir to Estates comprising some -100,000 acres, mainly bleak and barren moor. He at once began to -improve his property. - -Scottish agriculture was then in a most backward state. The fields -were unenclosed, the lands were undrained. The small farmers of -Caithness were so poor that they could hardly afford to keep a horse, -or even a Shetland pony. The burdens were chiefly borne by women. -Indeed, according to Smiles, if a cottar lost a horse, it was not -unusual for him to marry a wife as the cheapest substitute. - -The country was without roads or bridges. Drovers taking their cattle -to the South had to swim rivers alongside their beasts. The chief -track leading into the country lay along the high shelf of a mountain -called Ben Cheilt; the path being several hundred feet above the -storm-tossed sea, which thundered on the rocks below. - -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 hill. But John surveyed the road -himself, and ordered up the Statute labour. At that time the law -decreed that all capable inhabitants of the agricultural class should -work on the roads for six days in every year. And so, early one summer -morning, he assembled the neighbouring farmers and their servants--a -total of 1,260. Each party, on arrival, was assigned a certain piece -of the path where they found tools and provisions awaiting them. 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-track. Tidings of this exploit by a stripling of eighteen spread -far and wide, and spurred the sleeping spirit of the North. - -At the age of twenty-six, John Sinclair was elected member of -Parliament for the county of Caithness, and remained in the House of -Commons for upwards of thirty years. - - * * * * * - -The great monument to Sinclair's indefatigable industry is his -"Statistical Account of Scotland" in twenty-one volumes, one of the -most valuable works on agriculture ever published in any country. It -took seven years and seven months of incessant labour to complete. It -was then that the word "statistics" and "statistical" were first -introduced into the English language by Sinclair. He made use of the -clergy to obtain the information he desired. He sent a circular letter -to each parish minister in Scotland with 160 questions under four -heads: (1) Geography and Natural History. (2) Population. (3) -Production. (4) Miscellaneous subjects. - -In the collection of data many difficulties occurred. Some of the -clergy scorned the idea that one man could collect and collate all -this information: others were lazy both in mind and body: and some -were old and infirm. Several parishes were vacant, some too huge to -fully cover, many were without roads, and not a few separated by -tempestuous arms of the sea. To overcome these obstacles he enlisted -the aid of the leaders of the Church of Scotland, of which he was a -member, and the great landowners, and as a last resort he employed -statistical missionaries to supply the missing information. He -generously assigned all the profits of this publication to the -Scottish Fund for the benefit of the sons of the clergy, and obtained -for that Society a Royal grant of £2,000. 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 mill. Charles Abbot, -afterwards Lord Colchester, the originator of the census of England, -wrote to Sinclair: "Your success suggested to me the idea," and the -various bureaux of statistics in the United States and other countries -can be directly traced to the influence of his treatise. - -In the year 1788 Sinclair founded the Wool Society. For some time he -had been wondering why Shetland wool was so extremely fine. Meeting at -the General Assembly in Edinburgh a Shetland minister, he put the -question to him and obtained much valuable information which he at -once laid before the Highland Society. This led him to form the -British Wool Society. It was inaugurated by a grand sheep-shearing -festival at Newhall's Inn, Queensferry, near Edinburgh, in the year -1791. To Sinclair, therefore, belongs the credit of initiating the -sheep-shearing contests which a few years later developed into Coke's -famous "clippings," and which were the precursors of our present -agricultural shows. The first agricultural show was held by the -Highland and Agricultural Society at Edinburgh in 1822. It was the -Long Hill sheep of the East Border that Sinclair re-christened by the -now famous name of Cheviot. These sheep soon became naturalised all -over the north of Scotland, and in a short time the rent of sheep -firms rose to fabulous prices. Pastures of little value under -coarse-woolled sheep yielded large returns. As an illustration of -the practical value of his improvements it may be mentioned that -Sinclair's estate of Langwell, which he had bought for £8,000, -he afterwards sold for £40,000: while the estate of Reay in -Sutherlandshire was purchased at £300,000. The name Cheviot comes -from the range of rounded or cone-shaped hills growing a superior -pasture on the Scottish and English border. - -In the opening lines of this article I spoke of a childish tale about -sheep-shearing. That this legend is not mere fiction may be seen in -the following letter of Arthur Young (see Autobiography of Arthur -Young, page 159): "From Sir J. Sinclair on clothing for sheep which -he sent and desired me to buy. I did so, and the rest of the flock -took them, I suppose, for beasts of prey, and fled in all directions, -till the clothed sheep, jumping hedges and ditches, soon derobed -themselves." - - * * * * * - -In his third lecture in the "Crown of Wild Olives," Ruskin points out -that all the pure and noble arts of peace are founded on war. It is -worth while, therefore, to note that the British Board of Agriculture -was established when Britain was engaged in the supreme struggle with -France, which terminated on the field of Waterloo, that the National -Department of Agriculture in the United States was inaugurated in -the midst of the Civil War, and that the Transvaal Department of -Agriculture was commenced ere peace was signed at Vereeniging. In -the year 1793 Sinclair's services in restoring commercial confidence -during the crisis which occurred at the outbreak of the French War -were recognised by Pitt, who sent for him to come to Downing Street, -thanked him on behalf of the Government, and asked him if there was -anything that he desired. Sinclair replied that he sought no favours -for himself, but the most gratifying of all would be the establishment -by Parliament of a great National Corporation to be called "The Board -of Agriculture." In due course the Board was successfully established -with the King as Patron, Sinclair as President, and Arthur Young as -Secretary. The annual Parliamentary grant was £3,000. - -In this brief review we have no space to follow the fortune of the -Board to the date of the retirement of its inspiring founder, down to -the time when it returned £42,000 to the Treasury--not knowing how to -spend it--till it finally faded away in the year 1822. Yet the Board -accomplished much imperishable work. It carried out agricultural -surveys, published several volumes of "communications," promoted prize -essays on rural topics, encouraged Elkington, the father of drainage, -Macadam the road-maker, and Meikle, the inventor of the threshing -machine, and arranged lectures by Sir Humphry Davy on agricultural -chemistry, and by Young on tillage. - -The north of Scotland at that period owed much to Sinclair. In 1782 -he saved the inhabitants from a serious famine by obtaining a -Parliamentary grant of £15,000. In the same year, along with some -other patriots, he secured the repeal of the law which for -thirty-seven years--since the Rebellion of 1745--had forbidden the -use of the kilt. - -Sinclair was an enthusiastic tree-planter in a country which was once -wittily described by an American visitor as a "Great Clearing." He -rebuilt Thurso, and founded the herring fisheries at Wick. To ensure -the success of this industry he imported Dutch fishermen to teach the -Caithnessmen the art of catching and curing herrings. He introduced -improved methods of tillage, a regular rotation of crops, and the -cultivation of turnips, clover, and rye-grass. One of his many schemes -was a General Enclosure Bill, his toast at agricultural gatherings -being: "May a Common become an Uncommon Spectacle in Caithness." - -In 1786 his attachment to William Pitt was rewarded with a baronetcy. -Sir John's domestic life was singularly happy. On referring to the old -book already mentioned, we read: "He has been twice married to two of -the most beautiful women in the island. His first lady, a Miss -Maitland, died prematurely in the bloom of youth. His present lady is -the daughter of the late Lord Macdonald, and by her he has a son, -George, and other children." - -It cannot be doubted that Sir John loved the limelight, possessed an -unbounded self-conceit, lacked the saving sense of humour, and -over-estimated his own achievements. But these vanities were but the -fitful smoke in the blue flame of a burning energy. What a lesson in -industry for the youth of South Africa. Fifty years of ceaseless toil, -author of thirty-nine volumes and 367 pamphlets. This Scottish -agriculturist died in 1835 at the ripe age of eighty-one, and is -buried according to an ancient family rite, in Holyrood Chapel at -Edinburgh--the friend and confidant of three English kings. - - - - -CHAPTER V - - -CYRUS H. McCORMICK: INVENTOR OF THE REAPER - - - _"I expect to die in harness, because this is not the world for - rest. This is the world for work. In the next world we will have - the rest."_--Cyrus H. McCormick. - -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 Good. -Yet it is strange to reflect that although every schoolboy knows -something of the life of our least Poet Laureate, not one in ten -thousand could tell you the career of the man who responded in a -truly miraculous manner to the heartfelt, world-voiced matin of both -rich and poor, "Give us this day our daily bread." - -Cyrus H. McCormick, the inventor of the reaping machine, was born in -the eventful year 1809. It was the birth year of Darwin and Tennyson, -of Mendelssohn, Gladstone, and Lincoln. He was born on Walnut Grove -Farm, amidst the mountains of Virginia, one hundred miles from the -sea. He came of that virile stock that has proved to be the main -strength of the Republic, that gave Washington thirty-nine of his -generals, three out of four members of his Cabinet, and three out -of the five judges of the Supreme Court--the Scots who migrated to -Ulster, and thence to the United States. Robert McCormick, the father -of Cyrus, was a fairly large farmer, and an inventor of no mean -ability. The little log workshop is still shown to the enquiring -tourist where father and son moulded and mended machinery on many a -rainy day. Indeed, we are told that the McCormick homestead was more -like a small factory than a farmer's home, so full was it of rural -industries--spinning and weaving, soap and shoes, butter-making and -bacon-curing. And it is more than likely that the ceaseless activity -of his wise and Celtic mother taught Cyrus the value of each moment -of time. - -Ever since he was a child of seven it was his father's ambition to -invent a reaper. He made one, and tried it in the harvest of 1816, but -it proved a failure. It was a fantastic machine, pushed from behind -by two horses. It was highly ingenious, but it would not cut the corn, -and was hauled off the field to become one of the jokes of the -countryside. Hurt by the jests of his neighbours, he locked the door -of his workshop and toiled away at night. Early in the summer of 1831 -he had so improved his reaper that he gave it another trial. Again it -failed. True, the machine cut the corn fairly well, but it flung it -on the ground in a tangled heap. Satisfied that there was something -radically wrong, Robert McCormick gave up the reaper after having -worked at it for over fifteen years. - -At this point Cyrus took up the task which his father had reluctantly -abandoned. He showed his genius from the very start by adopting a new -principle of operation. First of all, he invented the divider to -separate the corn to be cut from the corn left standing. Next came the -reciprocating blade, and the fingers, the revolving reel, platform, -and side draught, and, lastly, the big driving wheel. One day late in -the month of July, in the summer of 1831, Cyrus put a horse between -the shafts of his reaper. With no spectators save his father and -mother, his brothers and sisters, he drove down to a patch of yellow -grain. To that little family circle it must have been a moment of -intense excitement. Click, click, click--the white blade shot to and -fro. What a shout of joy! The wheat is cut and falls upon the platform -in a golden, shimmering swathe! - -Thus at the early age of twenty-two Cyrus had invented the first -practical reaper that the world had seen. And now began his nine -years' struggle with adversity, from which he emerged in triumph to -become the greatest manufacturer of harvesting machines that America -has produced. In order to obtain funds with which to manufacture -reapers he started to farm. But he soon found that it was impossible -to raise sufficient capital by this means. Near by was a large -deposit of iron ore, and he forthwith resolved to build a furnace and -make iron. He persuaded his father and the school teacher to become -his partners. For several years the furnace did fairly well, when, -suddenly, the price of iron fell. The McCormicks were bankrupt. Cyrus -gave up the farm, and stuck grimly to his reaper. One day the village -constable rode up to the farm door with a summons for a debt of -nine-teen dollars, but he was so impressed with the industry of the -McCormicks that he had not the heart to serve the notice. It was the -darkest hour before the dawn. - - * * * * * - -The same year (1840) a stranger rode in from the north and drew rein -in front of the little log workshop. He was a rough looking man with -the homely name of Abraham Smith, but to Cyrus he came as an angel -of light. He had come with fifty dollars in his pocket to buy a -reaper--the first that was ever sold. A short time later two other -farmers came on the same errand, and that summer three reaping -machines were working in the wheat-fields of America. In 1842 -McCormick sold seven machines, and in 1844 fifty. The home farm had -now become a busy factory. - -Three years later a friend said to him "Cyrus, why don't you go West -with your reaper, where the land is level and labour cheap?" - -It was the call of the West. - -He travelled over the boundless prairies, and was quick to see that -this great land-ocean was the natural home of the reaper. Straightway -he transferred his factory to Chicago--then, in 1847, a forlorn little -town of less than 10,000 souls. His business flourished. In the -great fire of 1871 his factory, which was then turning out 10,000 -harvesters a year, was totally destroyed. At the word of his wife he -rebuilt it anew with amazing rapidity. And so we find that the tiny -workshop in the backwoods of Virginia has become the McCormick City -in the heart of Chicago. In the sixty-five years of its life this -manufactory has produced over 6,000,000 harvesting machines, and is -now pouring them out at the rate of over 7,000 per week. The McCormick -Company is now known as the International Harvester Company, and his -eldest son, Cyrus H. McCormick, is the President. The annual output is -75,000,000 dollars. It was the reaper that enabled the United States, -during the four years of the civil war, not only to feed the armies -in the field, but at the same time to export to foreign countries -200,000,000 bushels of wheat. And well might the savants of the French -Academy of Science say, when electing Cyrus McCormick a member, that -"he had done more for the cause of agriculture than any other living -man." - -And now we must trace the evolution of the reaper from its origin on -the Walnut Grove Farm to the marvellous machine of to-day. For about -thirty years it remained practically unaltered in design, save that -seats had been added for the raker and the driver. It did no more than -cut the grain and leave it in loose bundles on the ground. It had -abolished the sickler and cradler, but there still remained the raker -and binder. Might it not be possible to do away with them also, and -leave only the driver? Such was the fascinating problem which now -confronted the inventor. - -In the year 1852 a bedridden cripple called Jearum Atkins bought a -McCormick reaper, and had it placed outside his window. To while away -the weary hours he actually devised an attachment with two revolving -iron arms, which automatically raked off the cut grain from the -platform to the ground. It was a grotesque contrivance, and was -nicknamed by the farmers the "iron man." Nevertheless, this invention -stimulated the manufacture of self-rake reapers, and soon the American -farmer would buy no other kind. Thus part of the problem had been -solved. The raker was abolished. 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 sheaf. - -And now another figure appears upon this ever-moving stage, a young -man by the name of Charles B. Withington. Born at Akron, Ohio, a year -before McCormick invented his reaper, this delicate youth was trained -by his father to be a watchmaker. At the age of fifteen, in order to -earn pocket-money, he went into the harvest field to bind corn. He -was not robust, and the hard, stooping labour under a hot sun would -sometimes bring the blood to his head in a hemorrhage. There were -times after the day's work was done when he was too weary to walk -home, and he would throw himself on the stubble to rest. At eighteen -he journeyed to the goldfields of California, drifted to Australia, -and in the year 1855 arrived back in Wisconsin with 3,000 dollars in -his belt. All this money he began to fritter away in trying to invent -a self-rake reaper. Suddenly, inspired by the articles of a rural -editor, who maintained that the binding of corn should be done by a -machine, Withington dropped his self-rake and went straight to work to -make a self-binder. He completed his first machine in 1872, but met -with much discouragement until, two years later, he came across -McCormick. - -Their dramatic meeting is best told by Mr. Herbert M. Casson in his -interesting volume, entitled "Cyrus Hall McCormick: His Life and -Work." - - "One evening in 1874 a tall man; with a box under his arm, walked - diffidently up the steps of the McCormick home in Chicago, and rang - the bell. He asked to see Mr. McCormick, and was shown into the - parlour, where he found Mr. McCormick, sitting, as usual, in a - large and comfortable chair. - - "'My name is Withington,' said the stranger; I live in Janesville, - Wisconsin. I have here a model of a machine that will automatically - bind grain.' - - "Now, it so happened that McCormick had been kept awake nearly the - whole of the previous night by a stubborn business problem. He - could scarcely hold his eyelids apart. And when Withington was in - the midst of his explanation, with the intentness of a born - inventor, Mr. McCormick fell fast asleep. At such a reception to - his cherished machine Withington lost heart. He was a gentle, - sensitive man easily rebuffed, and so, when McCormick aroused from - his nap, Withington had departed, and was on his way back to - Wisconsin. For a few seconds McCormick was uncertain as to whether - his visitor had been a reality or a dream. Then he awoke with a - start into instant action. A great opportunity had come to him, and - he had let it slip. He was at this time making self-rake reapers - and Marsh harvesters; but what he wanted--what every reaper - manufacturer wanted in 1871--was a self-binder. He at once called - one of his trusted workmen. - - "'I want you to go to Janesville,' he said. Find a man named - Withington and bring him to me by the first train that comes back - to Chicago.' - - "The next day Withington was brought back, and treated with the - utmost courtesy. McCormick studied his invention, and found it to - be a most remarkable mechanism. Two steel arms caught each bundle - of grain, whirled a wire tightly around it, fastened the two ends - together with a twist, cut it loose, and tossed it to the ground. - This self-binder was perfect in all its details--as neat and - effective a machine as could be imagined. McCormick was delighted. - At last, here was a machine that would abolish the binding of grain - by hand." - -For six years all went well with the McCormick and Withington -self-binder. This wonderful wire-twisting machine was working -everywhere with clockwork precision, and was believed to be the best -that human ingenuity could devise. All at once the manufacturing world -was startled with the news that William Deering had made and sold -three thousand twine self-binders. Deering, by this dramatic move -became in a flash McCormick's most powerful competitor. He was not a -farmer's son, like the latter, being bred in the city and trained in a -factory. He had been a successful merchant at Maine, then left it to -enter the harvester trade. He staked his whole fortune on making twine -binders. He won, and McCormick was forced to follow in his wake. The -evolution of the reaper into the twine self-binder was an epoch-making -event in the agricultural world. It enormously increased the sales. In -1880, 60,000 reapers were sold; five years later the figures had risen -to 250,000. Since then, with the exception of the new knot-tying -device, there has been no real change in the reaper. It remains the -grandest of all agricultural machines, and one of the most astonishing -mechanisms ever devised by the brain of man. - -McCormick died in 1884. In the span of his own life the reaper was -born and brought to perfection. He created it in a remote Virginian -village, and he lived to see his catalogue printed in twenty -languages, and to know that so long as the human race continues to eat -bread the sun will never set on the Empire of his reaper, for -somewhere, in every month in all the year, you will find the corn -white unto the harvest. - - - * * * * * - - -R. CLAY AND SONS, LTD., BRUNSWICK ST., S.E., AND BUNGAY, SUFFOLK. - - - * * * * * - - -=THE RURAL SCIENCE SERIES= - -Edited by Professor L. H. BAILEY - - - =THE SOIL.= By F. H. King. 6_s._ 6_d._ net. - - =THE FERTILITY OF THE LAND.= By I. P. Roberts. 6_s._ 6_d._ net. - - =THE SPRAYING OF PLANTS.= By E. G. Lodeman. 5_s._ 6_d._ net, - - =MILK AND ITS PRODUCTS.= By H. H. Wing. 6_s._ 6_d._ net. - - =PRINCIPLES OF FRUIT GROWING.= By L. H. Bailey. 6_s._ 6_d._ net. - - =FERTILIZERS.= By E. B. Voorhees. 5_s._ 6_d._ net. - - =IRRIGATION AND DRAINAGE.= By F. H. King. 6_s._ 6_d._ net. - - =RURAL WEALTH AND WELFARE.= By G. T. Fairchild. 5_s._ 6_d._ net. - - =THE FARMSTEAD.= By I. P. Roberts. 6_s._ 6_d._ net. - - =THE PRINCIPLES OF AGRICULTURE.= Edited by L. H. Bailey. - 5_s._ 6_d._ net. - - =THE PRINCIPLES OF VEGETABLE GARDENING.= By L. H. Bailey. - 6_s._ 6_d._ net. - - =GARDEN-MAKING.= By L. H. Bailey. 6_s._ 6_d._ net. - - =THE NURSERY BOOK.= By L. H. Bailey. 6_s._ 6_d._ net. - - =THE PRUNING-BOOK.= By L. H. Bailey. 6_s._ 6_d._ net. - - =THE FORCING-BOOK.= By L. H. Bailey. 5_s._ 6_d._ net. - - =PLANT BREEDING.= By L. H. Bailey. 5_s._ 6_d._ net. - - -LONDON: MACMILLAN AND CO., LTD. - - - * * * * * - - -=THE RURAL SCIENCE SERIES= - -Edited by Professor L. H. BAILEY - - - =FARM POULTRY.= By G. C. Watson. 6_s._ 6_d._ net. - - =THE FEEDING OF ANIMALS.= By W. H. Jordan. 6_s._ 6_d._ net. - - =THE FARMER'S BUSINESS HANDBOOK.= By I. P. Roberts. 3_s._ 6_d._ net. - - =THE DISEASES OF ANIMALS.= By Nelson S. Mayo. 8_s._ 6_d._ net. - - =HOW TO CHOOSE A FARM.= By Prof. T. F. Hunt. 7_s._ 6_d._ net. - - =BUSH FRUITS.= By F. W. Card. 6_s._ 6_d._ net. - - =FORAGE CROPS.= By E. B. Voorhees. 6_s._ 6_d._ - - =BACTERIA IN RELATION TO COUNTRY LIFE.= By Prof. Jacob G. Lipman. - 6_s._ 6_d._ net. - - =FRUIT-GROWING IN ARID REGIONS.= By W. Paddock and O. B. Whipple. - 6_s._ 6_d._ net. - - =RURAL HYGIENE.= By Prof. Henry N. Ogden, C.E. 6_s._ 6_d._ net. - - =DRY-FARMING.= By John A. Widtsoe. 6_s._ 6_d._ net. - - =LAW FOR THE AMERICAN FARMER.= By John B. Green. 6_s._ 6_d._ net. - - =THE TRAINING AND BREAKING OF HORSES.= By Merritt W. Harper. - 1_s._ 6_d._ net. - - =FARM BOYS AND GIRLS.= By William A. McKeever. 6_s._ 6_d._ net. - - =SHEEP-FARMING IN NORTH AMERICA.= By John A. Craig. 6_s._ 6_d._ net. - - =CO-OPERATION IN AGRICULTURE.= By G. Harold Powell. 6_s._ 6_d._ net. - - -LONDON: MACMILLAN AND CO., LTD. - - - * * * * * - - -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 caps. The -birth year for Thomas William Coke is reported on Page 17 as 1752; -page 36 states "Coke died in 1842 at the age of eighty-eight"; and -Wikipedia reports Coke was born on 6 May 1754 and died 30 June 1842 -(aged 88). So, the year of Coke's birth on page 17 should probably be -1754. Wikipedia shows that a gravestone has been placed on Mr. Tull's -resting place. - - - - - - - -End of Project Gutenberg's Makers of Modern Agriculture, by William Macdonald - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MAKERS OF MODERN AGRICULTURE *** - -***** This file should be named 40670-8.txt or 40670-8.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/4/0/6/7/40670/ - -Produced by Tom Cosmas - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions -will be renamed. - -Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no -one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation -(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without -permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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