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GEORGIGAL

ESSAYS

BY

A. HUNTER, M.D. F.R.S. L.s;E.

NISI UTILE EST QUOD FACIJIUS STULTA EST GLORIA. Phced.

VOLUME VI.

': YORK:

Printed by T. Wilson and R. Spence, High Ousegate,

FOR THE AUTHOR ;

And sold by X Mawman, Poultry, and B. & J. White, Fleet-
street, London: Wilson and Spence, J. Todd, Sotheran
and Son, and J. Wolstenholme, York; A. Constable,
Edinburgh: and J. Archer, Dublin.

^

1804,

GEORGICAL ESSAYS,

ESSAY I.

On the various degrees of Heat in living and
dead Bodies.

1. Of the tcay of coviputing the different degrees of
Heat.

IVIany of the ancients entertained strange
notions of the nature of heat. They supposed
it in different subjects to differ in kind as
well as quantity. They talked of the Ce-
lestial Heat, as differing much in its nature
from the heats commonly produced on our
earth. And these, too, they^thought to be of
quite different natures in the different bodies
wherein they are lodged. The heat of the fire,
or of hot water, or of fermenting substances,
they considered as altogetlier distinct from
the heat of animals. And this they distin^
guished into natural and preternatural, or
Volume VI.

D. H. HILL LIBRARY
^orth Carolina Stato College

6 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

morbid, as sorts of heat quite different from
one another. And those, too, they reckoned
of different natures in the different species of
animals. Doctrines and ways of speaking of
this sort, set up by the Peripatetic school, and
too much adopted by Galen and the physicians
after him, continued long in the world ; and
were also countenanced by the chymists, who
profefsed and valued themselves on a more
than ordinary knowledge of the secrets and
operations of heat.

Gomez Pereira, who was amongst the first
that dared to think freely in philosophy as well
as physic, ventured to affirm* all heat, whether
of an elementary, igneous, or animal kind, to
be of one and the same nature ; that the heat
of the sun, or any other elementary heat, did
not differ from that of animals but in degree ;
and that the heat of a man in a fever differed
only by its excefs from that of a man in health ^
and that the heats of other animals did not
differ specifically, but only in quantity, from
one another, or from that of the human kind.

*Nov. Med. cap. ii. p. 7, 9. cap. ili. p. 12, 17, 20,
23, 24, 25.

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 7

Tlie learned Telesius, though he was sen-
sible of the great variety of the degrees of
heat in bodies, thought that the determining
them and ascertaining their differences to be
almost impofsible. So that he declines taking
the trouble of any such inquiry.

How fond would he have been of the ways
of measuring heat found out since his time ?
Though for his own part he absolutely despairs
of doing it, especially with any tolerable
accuracy.

Tlie nature of heat my Lord Verulam seems
to have considered with more than ordinary
attention ; and gives his doctrine de forma
calidi*, by way of example for managing
philosophical subjects. He found all the va-
rious heats not to differ in kind, but in their
various intensities, durations, and other modifi-
cations and accidents f .

Sanctorius' thermometer, given out to the
world about that time, showed all kinds of

* Nov. Org. II. 11, 12, 13, 18, 20,
t Ibid. p. 189, 196, 197, 200, 206, 208, 220, 252,
253, 254.

B2

8 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

heat to have a similar effect in dilating the'air;
according to whose various expansions, the
various intensities of those heats, of whatever
kinds, w^ere to be judged. The same was
soon found to hold in other fluids. And at
length the firmest bodies themselves were, by
undeniable proofs, found to swell by the ap-
plication of heat of any sort. And from the
various desfrees of those dilatations alone we
must take our measures of the various degrees
of heat in bodies.

But where shall v^e begin to reckon the
heat of bodies, or their greatest natural con-
tractions, or the limits of heat and cold ?
Many things, when first proposed, look singu-
lar and odd, that, after laying aside prejudices,
by mature consideration become familiar and
easy ; and of the truth of which we come at
length to be fully satisfied. We commonly
conceive water, when once frozen and turned
to ice, to have lost all heat, and so to have be-
come absolutely cold ; on which account many
philosophers did too hastily begin their reck-
onings of heat from this point. But as various
fluids, such as melted wax, melted tallow,
oil, wine, brandy, &c. lose their fluidity at
various dej^rees of heat, and after that may

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 9

still grow colder and colder in their firm state;
just so, after water begins to freeze, we know
from many considerations it can become still
much colder. That is, that in frozen water
there is still a considerable quantity of heat ;
which by degrees grows lefs and lefs, till the
cold becomes intolerable to us mortals ; as in
the dead of winter in the northern intemperate
climates, where men cannot live without more
than ordinary shelter from the extreme seve-
rity of the weather. The air is oftentimes as
much colder than water beginning to freeze,
as such water is colder than our summer
weather. We reckon it warm when the fluid
in the thermometer is raised to gr. 64- ; it is at
gr. 32 when water freezes ; and such colds
have been often seen as to bring it down to
gr. 0, the beginning of the scale, nearly the
cold produced by a mixture of snow and salt.

Not as if this was the lowest degree of
heat, or the greatest degree of cold that na-
ture has ever been observed to produce on our
earth, as Dr. Boerhaave * seems to think, and
which hef, though I know not on whose

*Chem, I. p. 162, 164-, 166, 399, 400, 593.
t Ibid. p. 158, 166. 174.

133

10 GEORGICAL ESSAYS

testimony, tells us was the greatest cold that
was observed in Iceland in the cold winter of
170f. The cold has been sometimes felt as
great, or near as great as this in climates or-
dinarily temperate enough, and certainly much
warmer than what we have reason to believe
the bleak cold country of Iceland to be. At
Germanopolis in Pennsylvania, only in the la-
titude 40^, an. 173t, the cold brought the
mercury to gr. 5 *. In the famous winters
170|^ and 17l|, the cold at Paris was such,
that it would have brought down the mercury
in our thermometer to gr. 8 f . At Leyden,
an. 172|, it sunk to gr. 5 J, and at Utrecht it
fell a division lower 1|. At London, in the
winters 170|-, and 173t, the cold was so vio-
lent as to bring the spirits almost down to the
artificial cold of an ice and salt mixture § :
and an. 1 70|- Olaus Roemer**, at Copenhagen,
in the latitude of 55 deg. 43 min. found the

* Act. Berolin. Cont. IV. p. 130.
-j- Mem. Acad. So. 1710, p. 186. 1717, p. 3.
% Boerh. Chem. I. p. 158.
II Mufschenber. in Phil. Trans. 425. p. 359.
§ Derham in Phil. Trans. Abr. IV. 2. p. 1 13. VI. 2. p.
50.
** Vide Boerh. Chem. I. p. 720.

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 11

mercury in his thermometer to fall fully thus
low, to wit, to gr. 0 *.

But if we go farther north, though not so
far as Iceland, we shall meet with much
greater colds than any thing ever seen in these
countries. In January 1732 the cold was so
great at Upsal, that it brought the spirit of
wine in one of the Royal Society's thermo-
meters down to gr. 124, which falls about a
degree below gr. 0 in Fahrenheit's. And at
Petersburgh in the latitude only of 59"=" 56',
much the same with that of Upsal, an. HSf,
the cold was so excefsive, that quicksilver was
by it contracted tV part of the bulk it had in
boiling water, or to fall to gr. 200 in De I'lsle's
thermometer ; which •{• brings it to — gr. 28

* Dr. Boerhaave speaks of this remarkable observa-
tion of Olaus Roemer as made at Dantzick. But I rather
think it to have been made at Copenhagen. Dr. Der-
ham (see Phil. Trans. Abr. IV. 2. p. 1 J 4.) had papers
in his hands giving an account of this very frost, an. 170|
at Copenhagen, said to have been taken from the obser-
vations of Mr. Roemer: and Mr. Roemer was a Dane,
lived and bore high offices at Copenhagen, and died there
an. 1710. However, in the main, this does not at all
alter the srory with respect to us.
t Phil. Trans. 4il. p. 222.

5 B 4

2 GEORGICAL essa ys.

in ours. "We know in general, from the ac-
counts of travellers, what intense colds rage in
winter in many places of the world, and espe-
cially in or near the frigid zones in both hemis-
pheres. But we have few observations on re-
cord exactly limited or reduced to a deter-
mined measure. However, in M. de ^lau-
pertius's* accurare journal, we find that the
French academicians, who, in pursuit of
knowledge, and to determine that important
question of the figure of the earth, wintered
an. 173t at the north polar circle, experi-
enced a degree of cold much greater than any
thing we find measured and recorded by
others. At Torneao, in the latitude of 65° 51',
even on this side that circle, their spirit of
wine thermometers came at length to be
frozen, and, a mercurial one, constructed in
Mr. de Reaumur's way, sunk to gr. 37 under
his freezing point, which would have been
about 33 divisions below gr. 0 in Fahrenheit's.
AVhen that intense cold was suddenly ad-
m'tted into their warm rooms, their bodies
could hardlv suffer it, their breasts were as if
they had been rent, and the moisture of the
air was in an instant converted into whole

* Fig. de la Terrc, p. 5S.

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 18

fiakes of snow. This is a degree of cold as
piuch below the cold of freezing water, as that
is below the ordinary beat of our skin : for it is
33+32=65 divisions below the freezing point
at gr. 32, and the heat of the human skin at
gr. 97, is just so much above it.

To find a cold so far below that of freezing
water is certainly very surprising : and yet a
greater than this almost inconceivable degree
of cold, may by art be procured in lefs rigid
climes : for we can contrive a method of cool-
ing much beyond the ordinary tendency and
course of nature. Many things when mixed
together immediately become much colder
than formerly, when they subsisted distinct
from one another. Spirit of nitre poured on
beaten ice or snow brings on a very intense
cold. These, when their temperature and that
of the air was but about gr. 32 above gr. 0,
the ingenious and industrious Fahrenheit, b}"-
an artful management, cooled so much, that
the mercury in the thermometer sunk to — gr.
40, or 72 divisions below the freezing point* j
a degree of cold greater than what was felt in

* See Boerh. Chem. I. p. 162. Mufschenbr. Tent,
Exp. Acad. Cira. Ad. p. 17*.

14 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

the neighbourhood of the polar circle ; and
this is as much below the cold of freezing
water, as that is below the heat of our hottest
animals, or of men in fevers. No body would
have thought, a priori, that freezing ice was
capable of such an additional quantity of cold.

Nor are we absolutely sure that yet in these
circumstances all heat was destroyed* Even
in that horrid and most bitter cold at Torneao,
which the French mathematicians mention
with so much horror, we are sure there was ;
and likewise even in that excefsively cold mix-
ture of Fahrenheit, there might still be, and
probably there was, some degree of heat.
What if there was a concourse of such frigorific
circumstances? If Fahrenheit's experiment
was to be made in the frigid zone, what would
be the effect, and what a dreadful cold might
by that means be produced * ? So then, for

• When I was latelj at Paris there were put into my
hands some very extraordinary observations, communi-
cated to the Royal Academy of Sciences by Mr. De Tlsle
at Petersburgh, of excefsive colds at Kirenga in Siberia,
a place not very far north, lying in the latitude only of
58°, 10'. There in the winter I73|- the mercury once
fell to gr. 275 in De I'Isle's thermometer, which by cal-
culation I find should be gr. 118 below the beginning of

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 15

want of knowing the ultimate limits of heat
and cold we cannot determine the geometrical
proportion of the real or absolute quantity of
the heat of one body to that of another.
All we should pretend to, is to afsign their
arithmetical differences; which is a very use-
ful work, and is to be done by a great number
of accurate observations on the various expan-
sions of bodies by the various degrees of heat;
these expansions always corresponding in some
measure to the quantities of fire or heat ap-
plied. So that we shall in the ordinary way
speak of these things as proportional to one
another. Though 1 w^ould not be understood
positively to affirm that they both go on always
precisely in the same ratio ; or that the expan-
sions were always exactly in a ratio neither
greater nor lefs than the simple ratio of the
quantities of the applied heats.

When people * tell us that red-hot iron is

the scale in ours. This, if there be no mistake in the
affair, is the most astonishing thing I ever met with of
the kind. It supposes a cold 150 degrees below the
freezing point, almost an incredible thing; a cold as
much below the cold of free2ing water, as that is below
the heat of boiling spirit of wine.

* Vid. Newton Princip. p. 308. and in Phil. Trans.
Abr. IV. 2. p. 2, 3. Pilcarn. El. Med, II. 1. § 26.

16 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

S or 4 times hotter than boiling water, and
that boiling water is about 3 times hotter
than the heat of om* skin, or of the summer
heat, they generally reckon the lowest limits
of heat to be where water begins to freeze;
and thence found the additional dilatations of
quicksilver, or of linseed oil (or of any other
fluid that may be used in such thermometers)
to be in these proportions -, though the abso-
lute or real quantities of heat in these bodies
do not dijffer so much by far, as they by that
mistaken way of reckoning computed. Thus
boiling water indeed raises the mercury in the
thermometer to gr. 212, that is 180 divisions
above gr. 32, the heat of freezing water, while
the heat of the human body is but about gr. 97
or 98, only 65 or 66 degrees above the freezing
point. And therefore the dilatation acquired
from that point by the heat of boiling water,
to the dilatation acquired by the heat of our
body, is in the proportion of 180 to 66, or 2*73
to 1; which is something lefs than triple.
But the real heats of these things are still lefs
differing from one another. Suppose, for ex-
ample, Fahrenheit's ice and spirit of nitre mix-
ture of — gr. 40 had been at the lowest bound-
ary of heat, fthough there is great reason to
think that to be still much lower), and then

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 17

we shall find that the heat of boiling water
should be to that of our bodies only as 212+40
to 98+40, or 252 to 138, or l'8S to 1 : that
is, not so much as double. Who, before such
a particular examination, would have thought
the burning destroying heat of boiling water
not to be altogether twice so great as the soft
temperate heat of a man in health ? And up-
on the former reckoning of red-hot iron, its
heat should be to the heat of our skin instead
of 10 or 12 to 1, only as about 700 to 138, or
5 to 1. So that by thus bringing down the
limits of heat at least 72 degrees below the
ordinary reckoning, we find its various cha-
racters as frost, temperate, warm, tepid, boil-
ing water, red-het iron, &c. whatever their
arithmetical distances come out to be, are
not so different in their real proportions to
one another, as ' is commonly supposed.
Though, on the other hand, I would not af-
firm them to differ so little as Mr. Amontons*
reckoned. In whose scheme the air should
entirely lose its elasticity, when it is perfectly
devoid of heat, (of which however I think we
are not well afsured,) and then in such a total

*

Hist. Acad. Scienc. 1702. p. 8. Mem. 1703, p. 6%
«4> to 238.

li GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

absence of heat, were it pofsible to procure if,
reducing his numbers to ours, the mercury in
Fahrenheit's thermometer should fall 431 di-
visions below the cold of freezing water, or
to — gr. 400 p. q. ; a degree of cold as much
below the heat of the human body, as that is
below the burning heat of oil or mercury boil-
ing. But as we are not quite certain about
this lowest degree of heat, we must, as I just
now said, content ourselves to observe the
arithmetical differences of the various degrees
of heat in bodies, though we should not
be able to determine their real or absolute
proportions, until we shall acquire a farther in-
sight into the nature of things than we have
at present. It is good to know the narrow
limits of our faculties, and modestly to con-
fefs the bounds of our knowledge : ever keep-
ing in mind that excellent axiom of the Lord
Verulam *, " Homo natur2e minister et inter-
" pres tantum facit et intelligit quantum de
" ordine naturae opere vel mente observaverit ;
" nee amplius scit aut potest." It must be by
this road of experience and observation,
pointed out to us by the great Lord Chan-
cellor, if ever we arrive at a higher degree of
knowledge than what we at present enjoy.

• Nov. Org. I. I.

CEORGICAL ESSAYS. 19

n. Of the Heat of the Air.

In our search after the lowest degree of
heat, though we could not arrive at it, we
found however, in some seasons and parts of
the world, excefsively great degrees of cold,
and which the inhabitants of the earth can
scarcely bear 3 they are intolerable both to
animals and vegetables. The quarters of the
earth, within the polar circles, were thought
by the ancients to be uninhabited by reason of
the excefs of cold prevailing there, ayoiKnToi hot

Frigus iners illic habitat, pallorque, tremor-
que, ac jejuna fames.

*' Quia," says Macrobiusf, " torpor ille
" glacialis nee animali nee frugi vitam ministrat.*'

Pigris ubi nulla campis
Arbor astiva recreatur aura §.

And indeed these bleak wild parts of the

t Diog. Laert. VII. 156.

;^ In Somn. Scip. II. 5, p. m. IIO,

§ Horat. Carm. 1,22.

20 feEORGICAL ESSAVS.

world, though not quite waste, are but thhily
peopled. And no wonder. There, and in
other disadvantageous])' situated places, where
such intolerable colds chiefly rage, men must
shelter themselves in clothes and houses. The
beasts of these countries are many of them
provided by nature with a thick,warm covering;
or must retire the best way they can from the
killing colds of vi-inter, which however, often
overtake them. The very vegetables them-
selves would die were they not commonly in
these seasons buried under snow to such great
depths, as the extreme severity of the cold can-
not reach. In bitter black frosts we often
experience the fatal effects of the want of this
shelter and protection, even in the humbler
tribe of vegetables. And though there be
plenty of snow, the trees and higher shrubs,
that are not covered by it, are great sufferers
in the extraordinary severe winters, even in
the more happy and otherwise more tem-
perate countries. As has been often seen,
and in our own days was experienced through
all Europe in the years 170|^, 1721, &c.*;
when the thermometers pointed these low

* Phil. Trans. Abr. IV., 2. p. 3 20, &c. Mem. Ac. Sc,
J- 10, p. 18(5. Hales, Veg. Stat. p. 74-, &c.

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 21

degrees of heat we had formerly occasion to
mention.

But these and such like excefsive colds are
in these parts of the world justly looked on as
a sort of irregularities, and out of the ordinary
course of things. In these temperate climates
of ours, the mercury seldom falls under gr. 16.
And even then it is extraordinary cold. And
indeed we are apt to reckon it very cold at
gr. 24. By the very construction of the ther-
mometer it is slight frost at gr. 32 : and con-
tinues coldish to gr. 40, and a little above it.

The middle temperature of our atmosphere
in these countries is about gr. 48. when we
cannot call the weather either hot or cold ;
and is, as it were, a medium of all the sea-
sons, coinciding pretty nearly with the middle
vernal and autumnal heat, as observed in
England by Sir Isaac Newton, and Dr. Hales,
and by Mr. Crucquius in Holland. The
French raise this middle temperature a little
higher. They reckon it equal to the heat of
the cave of their Royal Observatory : and this,
both by observation and a calcul, comparing
it with Mr. Amontons's thermometer, I find
to be at gr. 53 in Roemer's, And indeed
P^olume VI. C

^2 6E0RGICAL ESSATS.

this middle temperature of the air we may
easily conceive to be very different in dif-
ferent countries. It is to be reckoned as a re-
lative sort of thing, varying according to the
various climates and constitutions of bodies m
them, which by use come to be fitted to dif-
ferent temperatures. In the cold countries
the air will be found agreeable enough to the
inhabitants while it is betwixt gr. 40 and 50.
In these middle climates in our neighbour-
hood, and not too far south of us, we are
best pleased with the heat of the air from a
little under gr. 50 to gr. 60 ; while in the hot
countries they have their air generally, and
can well bear it, something both above and
below gr. 70.

When the heats in tiie respective climates
are either much higher or much lower than
these, both men and beasts are fain to pro-
vide against them the best way they can.
In the cold they shelter themselves in houses,
dens, holes of the eartli, Sec; and the human
kind beside that provide for themselves clothes
and fires, to protect them from the severity |
of the weather. In the heats we lay aside |
our clothes, or take to the lightest sort ; we ,
shun the mid-day air, and retire to the coolest \

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 23

places ; for in the day-time it is generally
warmer in the open air than in houses. And
some of the bird kind choose to shift their
country in the different seasons of the year,
finding always by this means, a climate suf-
ficiently temperate for their constitution.

But the same degree of heat is not equally
fitted to all animals. Some kinds naturally
choose a cold country, while others indulge
themselves in a warmer climate, and find that
better fitted to their constitutions. And so
too, though with Dr. Hales* we should deem
the most genial heat for the generality of
plants to be from gr. 5S to gr. 69, the various
clafses of vegetables have their various tem-
peratures of the air in which they can thrive
best. Every body knows that some plants
can live only in the cold countries, being
burnt up if transplanted to a more southern
soil J while the natives of the warm countries
are chilled to death with us, if not very care-
fully and artfully protected from the injuries
of our severer weather. This piece of culture,
proposed long since by the great Lord Veru-

* Veg. Stat. p. 59.

C 2

24 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

lam*, has been. In our time, carried to a sur-
prising height. With the help of thermometers
we can so adjust our stoves, green-houses,
and hot-beds, as to imitate the temperature
of any climate we please ; and to support
and keep in strong life and vigour the plants
which nature has given only to the warmer
countries. According to the observations of
the London gardeners, as marked on Mr.
Fowler's thermometer reduced to ours, I find
the kindly degrees of heat for some of the
most curious foreign plants to be these. For
the myrtles gr. 44 ; oranges gr. 47 ; ficoides
gr. 50 ; Indian fig gr. 53^ ; aloe gr. 57 j cereus
gr. 60; euphorbium gr. 63 ; piamento gr. 66-,
ananas gr. 70; melon thistle gr. 73.

Not as if these plants could bear only such
and such precise points of heat. They, like
other vegetables and animals, have a con-
siderable latitude that way ; and can suffer
the air both colder and warmer than these de-
grees, which, however, are reckoned most
adapted to their nature. Though I suspect
some of them are rnarked too low, being far
under the ordinary and most kindly heats in

* Nov. Org. II. 35. p. 254-, 50, p. 348. Nat, Hist.
401, 405, 412, 856.

GEORGICAL ESSAYS 25

those countries where such plants naturally
grow. But there indeed, they have a freer
and more open air ; where consequently they
can bear greater heats than in our smothered
and pent-up stoves and green-houses.

Even we in this country do not reckon the
air warm till it arrives at about gr. 64. It is
to us very warm and sultry at gr. 80. And
Dr. Boerhaave* thought it naturally scarce
ever exceeded gr. 80 or 90 at most, reckoning
such hot air would soon be destructive of the
life of animals. But sometimes, even in these
temperate climates, the weather has been
found much hotter. I find observations re-
corded of the weather at Utrecht, Paris,
Padua, &:c. having sometimes been observed
so hot, as that the mercury in our thermometer
would have been raised to above 90 degrees.
In Pennsylvania, not an intemperate climate,
the heat in summer 1732, came once to be
gr. 96 or 97 f. And Mr. Reaumur J pro-
mises us observations of heats that people were
obliged to suffer, though they reached to
gr, 38 in his thermometer, or near gr. 104 in

• Chem. I. 156. p. 192, 207, 213, 274, 27S, 553.

t Act Berolin. Cont. IV. p. 131.

X Mem. Acad, des Sc. 1736, p. 486, 489.

C3

26 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

ours. Even in the more northernly countries,
where the sun has lefs influence, we can by
art contrive a method of giving undeniable
evidence of animals being able to bear a still
greater warmnefs of air. In the outer bagnio
at Edinburgh, the heat used to raise our ther-
mometer to gr. 90, where, though at your
first entry it seemed indeed a great deal too
hot, and something disagreeable, yet it soon
became so very tolerable, that one might
without any uneasinef?, have continued in it
as long as he had thought fit. Even one could
stay some hours in the inner bagnio, though
the heat there used to be about gr. 100.

From all this we see how finely every thing
has been contrived and adjusted by the great
and wise Author of Nature, and what a vast
latitude of the heat and cold of the air the
animal body, especially that of man, can bear,
from the sultry burning heats, as hot or hotter
than his blood, down to the chilling colds a
good deal below that of freezing water ;
though indeed it is about some intermediate
distance betwixt them, where the heat is most
agreeable, or best tempered to the bodies of
animals and vegetables.

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 27

It was only the middle climates or tem-
perate zones that many of the ancients
imagined were habitable by us mortals.

Mortalibus agris

Munere concejsa divuin*.

Macrobiusf says, " Tantum viiales auras
" natura dedit incolis carpere." Accordingly
much was said long ago of the intolerable
heat of the torrid zone, as by that means un-
inhabitable by men : whence Ovid J, speak-
ing of the zones of the earth, says,

'Jluarum qua media est non est habitabilis astu.

Virgil § says the same thing in a more
pompous manner.

■Quarum una coriisco

Semper sole rubtnsy et torrida semper ab igni.

And Horace II, with his ordinary poetical
imagery, supposes himself placed.

Sub curru nimium propinqui
Solis, in terra domibus negata.

* Virgil Georg. I, 237.

f In Somn. Scip. 11. 5. p. m. 1 10.

X Metamorph. I. 49.

§ Georg. I. 231.

II Cram. I. 22.

C4

28 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

Tibullus* exprefses the position of this part
of the earth, and its consequences, more fully
than any of them, in these lines :

Media est Phcebi semper suhjecta caloric
Non ergo pre/so tellus consurgit aratro :
Necfrugem segetes prtebent, nee pabida terra.
Non illic colit arva Dats, Bacchusve^ Cere^e,
Nulla nee exustus habitant animalia partcis.

But this opinion was, I humbly think,
among their vulgar errors, received chiefly
by the people, and taken up by the poets as
a beautiful fiction, which we cannot well sup-
pose they really believed. The wiser sort,
though they sometimes spoke f like other
folks, knew better things. Their historians
and geographers have recorded tolerable
good accounts of some of the middle parts of
the earth within the tropics. ^Ethiopia, Arabia
Felix, the sea-coasts of India, the isle of
Taprobana, Ophir, Tarshish, &c. were known
even by the common people to be well in-
habited, though lying within the torrid zone :

* E!eg. IV. l.inMefsal.

f See Cicer. Somn, Scip. 6. Macrob. in Somn.
Scip. II. 5, 6, 7. Diog. Laert. VII. 156.

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 29

and the travels of the ancients, as well as ours,
showed these countries not to be disagreeable
or inconvenient for human life. Nay, the heat^
there are by no means so excefsive as we are
all, before trial, ready to imagine and expect.
The Jesuit mifsionaries to the East Indies *
took particular notice of this : and their capar
city of observing such things, and their fidelity
in relating them, no body will call in question.
And lately the curious Mr. Cofsigny's ther-
mometrical observations! show, that the or-
dinary heats, even under the line, and near
it, are not greater than what have been ia
some extraordinary seasons observed at Paris,
and other places, that every body knows to be
temperate enough.

It is true all these observations were made
in islands, and on or near the sea-coasts, which
we may presume to be somewhat cooler than
the inland countries {. But still we are well

• See Du Hamel Hist. Ac. Sc. p. 272, 273. Hist.
Acad. Sc. 1666— 1698, II. p. Ill, 112. Mem. Acad.
So. 1666— 169S. Vir. p. 835,

t Mera.'Acad.Sc. 1733, p. 580, &c. 173+, p. 759,&c.

J See Mem. Acad. Sc. 1666—1698, VII p. 837.

30 GfiORGICAL ESSAYS

afsured, that even these can easily enough
be borne with. And all these parts of the
world have that advantage of the weather,
being there much more uniform than with us.
Their air suffers much smaller changes both in
the incumbent weight of the atmosphere pref-
sing it, and in the degrees of heat wherewith
it is warmed. Dr. Halley '* tells us, that he,
as well as others f who have sojourned within
the tropics, found very little variation in the
height of the mercury in the barometer, which
we know to be two or three inches in the
more northern regions ; we are all but too sen-
sible of the vast changes of the temperature
of the air in this quarter of the world, which
through the whole year is commonly found
so equable in the torrid zone. At Siam, within
the lat. 15 deg. from the greatest winter cold
to their highest summer heat, the Jesuits ex-
perienced a difference only of 26 degrees in
Hubin's thermometer ;|:, the extent of which I
believe differs not much from the like num-

* Phil. Trans. Abr. II. p. 18, 20, 22.

f Vid. Mem. Acad. Sc. 1666—1698, VII. p. 840.

% Du Hamel Hist. Ac. Sc. p. 272.

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 31

ber in ours. In Batavia *, though a very hot
place, and in gr. (3 south lat. the excefs of heat
above the greatest cold was still something
lefs : and in Malacca f, but 2 deg, of latitude
from the equator, the weather is very tem-
perate, and so equable, that for seven months
together the spirit in the thermometer was
never under gr. 60, nor above gr. 70. In the
isle of Bourbon J, in the lat, about 22 degrees
the difference between the highest and lowest
afternoon l^eat in a twelvemonth's time was
but eight divisions in Reaumur's thermometer,
which makes up scarcely fifteen in ours : and
the ordinary difference of the night and day
heat in these climates was found a small matter
compared to what we have it commonly with
us §. And as the torrid zone excels our coun-
tries hereabout in a more equable degree of
heat and weight of the atmosphere, so we are
more happily appointed that way than
in Sweden and Lapland, and these other

• Du Hannel Hist. Ac. Sc. ibid. p. 272.

f Ibid.

t Mem. Ac. Sc. 1734, p. 762.

§ lb. 1666-rJ^98, VII. p. 837, 1733, p. 537,

52 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

northern regions*. From whence it would
seem a general rule, that, ceteris paribus, the
greatnefs of the vicifsitudes of the air increases
with the latitudes of the places as you go
from the equator.

III. Of the comparative heats of the Sun, Earth,
Planets and Comets.

We have hitherto considered the air, though
influenced by the sun, as shaded from its
immediate burning operation. For in the
open air, exposed to its direct beams shining
with greatest advantage, the heat is found
much higher than any thing we have hitherto
been speaking of. And an examination of
this will naturally lead us into the consi-
deration of the heat of the sun, the inex-
haustible magazine of light and fire, the great
furnace of our system j and to consider its
influence on bodies placed at different dis-
tances from it.

Sir Isaac Newton f, comparing the sun's in-

* See Phil. Trans. Ab. II. p. 22. Maupert. Fig. dc \

laTerre, p. 72. i

\
f Princip. III. Prop. 8. Cor. 4. p. 40^.

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. "SS

fluence on the Earth and Mercury, which
by its vicinity to the sun should have seven
times more heat from him than us, reckons
the solar heat in that planet sufficient to boil
our water, and quickly carry it all off in
vapour J having found by a Thermometer
that water was boiled by a heat seven times
greater than the heat of the summer sun;
which then in this reckoning should be only
at gr. (32+*T°=) 58. But this exprefsion of
the heat of the summer's sun must be greatly
modified to be consistent with the true state
of things. He must not only have meant it
solely of the degrees above freezing water,
(as was then the fashion of thinking and
speaking,) but also instead of summer sun,
he must really have understood the ordinary
shaded air in summer, or the summer heat of
the air, as Dr. Pitcairn* (who I suppose had
his observations of this matter from Sir Isaac)
cxprefses it. Though I must confefs that
this could be but very improperly compared
to the solar heat at Mercury; except we
suppose that he likewise meant the heat in
the shade at Mercury too. And farther, it

* Elem. Med. II. 1. § 26,

34 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

will be reckoned an incongruous way of
judging of the heat of the sun, by taking our
measures from its impaired action on the air
screened from its direct rays.

The direct summer mid-day heat is vastly
greater than such a low allowance ; it having
been found, even in these northern chmates,
able to dilate the fluid in the Thermometer
much more than f of the dilatation caused by
boiling water. Dr. Bocrhaave is the lowest
in his reckoning of any that pretended to take
an estimate of it, saying*, that the greatest
heat ever produced by the direct action of the
sun in our air, or other bodies heated by it,
seldom reaches to gr. 84. And at another
timef, though he raises it a little higher,
seeming to allow that the great dog-day heat
may come to gr. 90, he thinks it can scarce *
ever go beyond these bounds, or arrive at the
heat of the human body. But Sir Isaac him-
self, in another place of his book J, exprefsly
tells us, that he found the heat of boiling

*Chera.I. p. 213.
t Chem. I. p. 156,
+ Princip. p. 50S.

GEORGICAL ES9AYS. $5

Water only about tliree times greater than the
heat communicated to dry earth by the summer
sun. And so, too, Dr. Mufschenbroek *
reckoned it probable that the heat of boiling
water is three times greater than the greatest
heat communicated to bodies by the summer
sun in his country; by these reckonings this
heat amounting to gr. (32+ '1°=) 92. Nay,
even in Italy, Borellif and MalpighiJ fou;:d
this heat of the sun in mid-summer only equal
to the heat of the viscera of hot animals, I
suppose about gr. 102 ; not a deal higher
than what Newton and Mufschenbroek reck-
oned.

All this may, I believe, commonly be just
and true enough. But it is not so universal,
either as to times or places, as one would be
ready to expect from such ways of speaking.
Lord Verulamli long ago took notice, that
the highest degree of animal heat scarce ever
attained to the heat of the sun's rays in tiie
scorchinij climates and seasons. And "even

* Tent. Exp. Ac. Cira. Add. II. p. 22.
f De Mot. Anim. 11. Prop. 96. 221.

♦ Op. Post. p. 30.
liNov. Org. H. 192.

S^ GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

in this cold country I have experienced
greater heats of the sun. Many have had
occasion to observe how vastly metals are
heated in the sun. Sir Isaac Newton* takes
particular notice of this. I have in this place
in the latitude of 56 deg. 20 min. seen a
piece of iron heated so much that I could not
hold it in my hand above a few seconds of
time ; and therefore it was much hotter than
my blood. And I have oftener than once
seen dry earth heated to above gr. 120.
And Dr. Hales f found a very hot sunshine
heat an. 1727 still greater, viz. at about
gr. 1 40. Dr. Mufschenbroek J in his later trials
once experienced it so high as gr. 150. So that
reckoning from the freezing point at gr. 32
in the common way, these strong sun-shine
heats were much greater than |, or even the
half of the heat of boiling water. And in the
more southern countries it has been found
still greater at some ps(|ticular times. Much
has been said of the scorching and intolerable
heat of the sun in the torrid zone §. We have

* Prlncip. p. 420.
+ Veg. Stat. p. 59.
JEfs. Phys.§974.

§ See Boyle Hist, of the Air. Abr. 3. p. 55.
5

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 37

many strange stories of extraordinary summer
heats, as great tracts of land, houses, &:c.
set on fire, stones heated so as to melt lead, &c.
These indeed seem extravagant relations.
But the German annals* preserve the memory
of an excefsively hot summer an. 1230, when
they roasted their eggs in the sand heated by
the sun. And I have been told that in Egypt,
by no means the hottest country in the v»'orld,
they can often on the tops of their houses
roast their eggs at the sun. And to harden
the v^^hite of an egg I find the heat of about
gn 156 to be necefsary. In the year 1705
the summer was very warmf. At Mont-
pelier one day the sun was so very hot as to
raise the quicksilver in M. Amontons's Ther-
mometer to the mark of boiling water itsdf,
which is our gr. 212.

But after all, these great heats must be
reckoned irregularities, and out of the ordi-
nary course of the seasons ; and what may be
produced by the sun only in certain times and
circumstances. For in our temperate climates

* See Lipsii Epist. ad Belg, II. 9 1 .
fMem.Sc. 1706. p. ]5,

S8 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

the most common and ordinary noontide heat
of the summer sun may be found to raise the
quicksilver in the Thermometer but about 60
or 70 divisions above the freezing point at
gr. 32 ; and the afternoon heat in the shade
about the half of that. So the ordinary sum-
mer sun heat with us does nearly coincide
V. ith the heat of our body ; which was found*
to be somewhat more than the half of the
heat of boiling water, supposing Fahrenheit's
cold mixture to be the very lowest degree of
heat ; and so too boiling water, instead of
seven times, is but between tvi'o and three
times hotter than our common shaded warm
air at midsummer.

However, this solar heat is still much
greater in the warmer countries. And if we
pretend to make any comparison of such
things, it is our equatoreal heat we should
reckon as the sun's true heat at our orbit, and
what we should collate with its influence on
the other planets, or its heat at their respective
distances.

But what, on the other side, will lower or

Ibid, page 19, &c.

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 39

bring down this solar heat very much, is this
consideration, that the heat communicated by
the sun to bodies on this earth depends much
upon other circumstances beside the direct
force of its rays. These must be modified by
our atmosphere, and variously reflected and
combined by the action of the surface of the
earth itself, to produce any notable effects of
heat. For were it not for these additional
circumstances, I question much if the naked
heat of the sun would to us be very sensible.
We find all our great heats to be in those
places that lie low, and have a great height
of atmosphere above them, and surrounded
by eminences and rising grounds *. It you
ascend to the tops of the very elevated moun-
tains, you are chilled with cold, and you find
everlasting snows, that after thousands of sum-
mers have scarce ever been thawed, though
every day exposed to the direct rays of the
sun J which in some countries are darted per-
pendicular on them. AVe hear that the French

* See Liv. Hist. XXI. 31. Senec. Nat. Qu. IV. li.

Bacon, Nov. Org. 11. 12. p. 169. Borell. cle Incend. Aetu.

p. 7, 50. Bo)le Exp. on Gold. Abr. I. p. 6:39, 65S.

Hist, of the Air, Abr. III. p. 53. 54,55. Boerh. Cliem. I.

p. 172, 1£5, 476.

D2

40 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

virtuosi, who, by order of the king went to
America to make their observations on the
figure of the earth, &;c. found on the very-
high hills there, just under the line, such ex-
cefsive colds, that it is suspected they were
as intense as what were observed in Lapland
itself. So necefsary it seems is a long and
direct pafsage through all or the greatest part
of the depth of our atmosphere, or the afsist-
ance of its prefsure, or the reflections of rays
from the earth's own surface, to invigorate
these rays, and to give them strength for warm-
ing terrestrial bodies. To which too the par-
ticular sulphureous nature of the low parts of
the atmosphere may not a little contribute.

So then there are other circumstances be-
side the vicinity to the sun that may influence
and determine its heating virtue. Thus reckon-
ing the force of heat to be c^eter is paribus as
the density of its rays, or reciprocally as the
squares of its distances from the central fire,
the planet Mercury is so much nearer the sun
than the earth, that its heat from him, by cal-
culation of their respective distances, comes
out seven times greater than ours *. And so

^ See Newtcn Princip. III. Prop. S. Cor. 4. p. 406.

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 41

would an inhabitant there kel it, if they have
the surface of Alercury disposed like that of our
earth, and an atmosphere hanging over their
heads so like ours, as to qualify the sun's rays
in the same manner. But if they have little
or no atmosphere (which seems to be the
case of our moon) or an atmosphere so dis-
posed as only to affect the rays of heat in the
manner that the upper parts of our atmosphere
do, then it is pofsible the solar heat at Mer-
cury may be as tolerable as on our earth.
And, on the other hand, though we com-
monly reckon* that our waters should be
frozen up, and we ourselves be chilled to death
in the far distant planets Jupiter and Saturn,
they may, for ought we know, have their
atmospheres and surfaces so constructed, as
to render the solar heat comfortable enough
even for animals and vegetables of the like
nature and pafsions with our own.

But the case of the comets is vastly dif-
ferent from any thing we can propose of the
other planets. Their orbits are so eccentrical,
that they must be very variously affected by

• See Newton Princip. III. Prop. 8 Gor. 4. p. i05.
0 D 3

42 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

the sun in the different parts of their course.
But yet their atmospheres and bodies may be
of such a nature as that they shall not be
heated to such a vast and almost inconceive-
able degree as is sometimes supposed. In tlie
Newtonian system of comets* the distance
from the sun of that famous one which hap-
peared an. 1680 f in its perihelion was, by
calculation, to the mean distance of the earth
in the ratio of about 6 to 1000 : so that its
heat in that part of its period Sir Isaac deter-
mines should have been to our summer heat
reciprocally as the squares of these numbers,
that is, at 1,000,000 to 36, or 28,000 to 1.
And therefore, seeing the heat of boiling water
is three times greater than what dry earth ac-

* Newton Princip. III. 8>zc. p. 50S.

■f It is supposed by many to have been this very
comet that appeared an, 1 !©(;, an. 531, an. A. C. 44, &c.
See Newton Princip. p. 501. Halle}' Synops. of Comet,
inGregor. Astron. in English, p. 901, 902, 903. Whistoa
New Theor. of the Earth, p. 187, 191, &c. But M.
Cafsini represents the comef, or comets, an. 1680 in a
very dilTerent manner from these authors : nor does he
make that great blazing star that alarmed all Europe, to
have been so very eccentrical, or to have come so very
near the body of the sun as they do. See Mem. Aca4.
Sc. 1731, p. 464—468,

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 43

quires from the summer sun, and the heat of
red-hot iron three or four times greater than the
heat of boiling water, he computes the heat
of the comet should have been 2000 times
greater than the heat of red-hot iron. A pro
disious and terrible heat, even with all the
abatements we have been proposing ; and
which I conceive no body can endure, that is
not immensely denser and more fixed than any
terrestrial body we know. For, from the ex-
ample of common water, &c. * it would seem
that all bodies are, according to their various
degrees of density and fixednefs, susceptible
just of such and such particular degrees of
heat, beyond which, whatever fire be applied
to them, they cannot be raised ; though by a
heat exceeding these their parts are all dif-
sipated, are rendered volatile, and fly off in
vapour. And yet I cannot but take notice,
that all this calculation is upon the supposi-
tion that the comet was in its own nature like
our earth, and involved in an atmosphere like
ours: otherwise that method of reasoning and
analogy cannot take place, nor would the
sun's heat affect it in that way.

• See Boerh. Chem. I. p. 265, 2+3.

D4

44 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

But I say again, under another view and
consideration, what if the real solar heat, both
in itself and what it can communicate to us
and other planetary bodies, (while it is not
concentratedbyburningglafseSjOrstrengthened
by Other afsistances,) be vastly lefs that what
is commonly reckoned ? all the natural heat
we meet with here on the earth we are
ready to ascribe to the action of the sun, which
perhaps has but a small share in it, overlook-
ing a source of heat, which, though often
spoke of by the theorists of the earth *, is sel-
dom considered in that advantageous light I
would choose to take it. We formerly took
notice of what a great stock of heat all ter-
restrial bodies are pofsefsed, even in the coldest
winters. Every body has felt or heard that
the temperature of the air in mines and other
places deep under ground is warm, or at least
very tolerable. And we know, from the

* See Empedocles in Platarch de Prira. Frigid, p. ra.
507. Des Cartes Princip. Phil. IV. 3. Burnet Theor.
of the Earth, III. 6. Woodward, Efs. Nat. Hist, of the
Earth, p. 135—162, 220—225. Nat. Hist. &c. Illust.&c.
Introd. p. 136, UO— lf3, 119—152. Whiston New
Theor. &c. p. 7S. 231, 33ij 447. Gafsend. Epicur,
Philosoph. I. p. 5 16, &c.

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 45

nicest observations, that in the cave of the Ob-
servatory at Paris, only about ninety feet un-
der ground, the heat keeps the thermometer
at gr. 53, and that without any afsi stance
from the sun ; it being never sensibly in-
creased by the most scorching seasons be-
vond its heat in the most severe v^'inters that
have been felt there. And the same constant
and unalterable degree of heat was observed
by Mr. Boyle* in a cave cut deep into the
earth f. And great and even troublesome
heats are said so be observed at greater depths
and increasing in proportion to these depths;
tliou2:h I could wish these heats had been
more regularly measured and ascertained than
what I can find they have yet been. So that it
would seem the body of the earth has a very
gjreat proper internal heat, independent on the
sun, and very much beyond what he, without
the intervention of our atmosphere could com-
municate to it ; so great as, within 90 feet of
its surface, to raise the thermometer 93 divi-
sions above Fahrenheit's cold mixture, or

* Mem. Hist, of the Air. Abr. III. p. 54.

t See Bo^le Exp. on Cold, Abr. I. p. 611,700, 701,
702. Boerh. Chem. I. p. 479. Woodw. Efs. Nat. Hist,
gl the Earth, p. 13G.

46 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

453 divisions above what Mr, Amontons
reckoned the lowest degree of heat. This
heat of the earth at its surface is something
lefs, r.nd beyond that its force decreases in-
deed very fast, so as to leave the air at a small
height above it a good deal colder j and which
we find on the very high hills to be excefsively
cold, and not to be much warmed by the ad-
ditional heat of the sun's direct rays, if they
be but little altered by the earth's surface and
atmosphere.

It is not our businefs so much as to attempt
the explaining the cause and consequences of
this innate heat. That is the work of those
who have fire and fancy enough to build
worlds, or theories of worlds. I will only beg
leave to observe, after the Lord Verulam *,
Mr. Boyle f, and others, that, the various tem-
peratures of the air in different places of the
earth, do by no means correspond to what
should be the result of their position to the
sun. To omit variations that are small and

• Seq. Chart, p. 102.

f Exp. on Cold, Abr. I, p. 657— 6€0, 670. Mem.
Hist, of the Air, Abr. III. p. 52.

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 47

of Jefs moment, I shall only take notice of the
much greater cold in all the southern hemis-
phere than in the similarly situated places of
the northern one ; and of the greater colds in
the North American countries, than in those
of the same latitude on the European side of
the globe. All which argues a copious fund
of some other more potent cause of heat than
the regular actions of the sun ; and that that
cause, inherent in the earth itself, is stronger
in some regions of it than in others, though
every where considerable and of great force.

The ingenious Dr. Halley* has a very bold
hypothesis, which, beside other purposes^, he
employs in accounting for this anomaly of
these warm and cold quarters of the world.
Pie imagines that once the earth moved round
an axis very different from the present, and so
that " the extreme cold felt in some places,
*' as in the north-west of America, about
" Hudson's Bay, may be occasioned by those
" parts of the world having once been much
" more northerly, or nearer the pole than now
*' they are, whereby there are immense quan

* Phil. Trans. Abr. VI. 2. p. 41.

48 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

" titles of ice yet unthawed in those parts,
" which chill the air to that degree, that the
" sun's warmth seems hardly to be felt there i"
which, after some thousands of years, have
not yet, it seems, acquired a sufficient heat :
while by a parity of reason we may from the
same principles infer, that the extraordinary
soft temperature of some other places may be
owing to their having originally been under
or near the primitive equator, whereby they
had acquired a heat which is not yet quite
difsipated.

But, besides that in such an hypothesis those
places should constantly be coming nearer
and nearer to a regularity and uniformity with
other countries alike in latitude, and other
ordinary circumstances, the heat of bodies is
so transient and fleeting, and the influence of
the sun reaches so little way into the body of
the earth, that I cannot conceive, even allowing
the supposition of a changed axis, that the
various degrees of the original primitive heats
of the earth, communicated to it by the sun,
could pofsibly have been so permanent and
lasting, as to show themselves so effectually at
this day : so that, as I said before, such a
variety of heats must rather be owing to an

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 49

internal cause operating more intensely in
some regions than in others, and every where
much more strongly than any influence the sun
can give them.

And if this be the case of the rest of the
planets as well as of our earth, their heats, or
the heats of bodies on their surfaces, will not
solely nor even chiefly depend on the action
of the sun on them, (as the philosophical
astronomers* seem by their manner of speak-
ing to suppose), those proper innate heats
having a greater share in them than that ex-
ternal addition. Though this, however, may
be necefsary to support and preserve those
entire ; seeing all warm bodies, that are not
endowed with a vital principle of heat, are,
of their own accord, liable to a constant waste
and decay of this quality.

But whatever be in this, from these con«
siderations, the heat of the sun, and the heats

• See Newton Princip, p. 405, 406, 508, 509,
Gregor. Elem. Astron. VI. Prop. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. Whist.
Prael. Math. p. 327, 328. New Theor. &c, p. 53^ 78.
Hugen. Cosmotheor. II. p. 634, &c. Derhara Physico
Theol. p. 171 — 178.

50 dEORClOAL ESSAYS.

of bodies approaching near him, will not be
found so exorbitant as we have been ac-
customed to reckon them*. The proper or
innate heats of the planets may be such that
the inner ones are in no hazard of being too
much scorched, nor the far-off ones of having
too small an allowance of the benign influence
of the sun's heat; and that, especially by the
help of peculiarly disposed atmospheres con-
curring that way, there may be a great uni-
formity, in this respect, of the whole solar
system. Even the comets themselves may,
for any thing we know, be so constructed as
to suffer no great inconvenience by their great
eccentricities, and very variable distances
from the central fire.

But where ami going ? I find myself tread-
ing on slippery and enchanted ground. I fear
I may be thought just now to have got too
far into the bewitching and airy regions of
fancy and conjecture, where I would not
choose to dwell. However, at present having
a delightful prospect in view, I would fain
be indulged in. one question before I quit
this subject. What if, abstracting from the
other solar influences of light, gravitation. Sec.

* See NewtoD, ibid. p. bOS. Whiston, ibid.

GEORGICAL ESSAYS 51

the great force and virtue of Its additional
heat on the bodies of planets (which is wisely
contrived to be very variable and shifting) is
to produce frequent changes on the otherwise
equable heats of their surfaces, for the very
great and noble purposes in the Ufe and sup-
port of their inhabitants? as at least we know
to be the state of our globe, which, by the
vicifsitudes of night and day, winter and sum-
mer, and spring and autumn, beside other
ends thereby accomplished, preserves in action
and life both vegetables and animals, all
which would stagnate and die in a state of
heat always perfectly the same ; for all natural
organic bodies, from the lowest vegetable to
those of the highest animal life, have, by the
vicifsitudes of heat and cold they necefsarily
undergo, a constant oscillation, a perpetual
alternate contraction and expansion of all
their solid and fluid particles.

So then the sun, though it be not the sole
or chief fountain, is, as it were, the great re-
gulation of motion, heat, and life to the inha-
bitants of this system i and on this account
the benefits, to us men, of this great mover,
this awakener and enlivener of nature, are
highly to be prized; which, however, were

52 GEORGICAL ESSAYS

much mistaken by the ancient heathen nations,
and still continue to be so amongst many in
the world, who having lost the true religion
and philosophy of things, that were given to
the first men, and so seeing things but by
halves, and dazzled by the splendour of the
sun's light and power, and sensible influences*,
imagined, that for their life and all the goods
thereof they depended on that great luminary,
and so worshipped the creature instead of the
Creator, the work, instead of him that made
it, the knowledge of whom they had utterly
lost. And this was never to be recovered
■without a new revelation, a new communica-
tion of himself from God to man, or a more
accurate survey and knowledge of the system
of nature than what mankind could of them-
selves soon or easily arrive at, by which the
several connections, and subordinate depend-
encies of its parts one with another, and the
great and universal dependence of the whole
on a wise and omnipotent Maker and Ruler
might be found out. — An inquiry indeed of
the greatest concern to us men, and in which
there have been very great steps made in these
latter times, that do very much confirm and

* Wisdom of Solomon, xiii. I — 7.

GfiORGICAL ESSAYS. 53

illustrate the revelation given to Abraham for
the conversation of the true religion, and con-
tinued to his posterity: which was afterwards
much farther extended by the last grand re-
velation concerning the great Creator, the
Lord of heaven and earth, that made the sun,
earth, and stars, and governs them all with
infinite wisdom and power.

IV. Of the degrees of Heat in Animals.

Thus much for the celestial and planetary
heats. But now let us come nearer home, and
consider the various degrees of heat in the
living inhabitants of this our earth, which we
can see, and feel, and examine by our senses j
a very fruitful inquiry, and of greater immedi-
ate satisfaction and use to us, being what v/e
are more particularly interested in.

The heat of animals is extremely various,
both according to the variety of their kinds
and the variety of the seasons. Zoologists
have justly enough divided them into hot and
cold, that is to say with respect to our senses.
Tiiose that are any thing near our own tem-
perature we call hot, while all the others are
reckoned cold, whose heat is much below ours.

Volume VI. E

J4' GEORGICAL ISSAYS.

and consequently affects our feeling with the
sense of cold, though, according to what trials
I have had opportunity of making, they are
all, by their vis vita, kept something warmer
than the medium in which they live.

The gradations of life from the warmest
animals down to perfectly inert matter are
very slow, and by very small and almost insen-
sible degrees, seeing, as it is not easy to de-
termine the lowest state of vegetati'-m, so too
the limits between the highest vegetables and
the lowest animals are with difficult}' to be dis'
tinguished. Now all bodies partake of the
heat of the medium surrounding them, as air,
water, or any thing else. Nor can I find by
the most careful experiments purposely made,
that vegetables, any more than the most inert
and lifelefs mafses of matter, are endowed with
any vital heat beyond the temperature of the
ambient air, to be distinguished by the nicest
thermometers. As the air is a thin body,
easily heated and cooled, so indeed when it is
in a cooling state, as chiefly in the evenings
and night season, it is colder than the plapts
In it. But on the other hand, for the same
reason, through most part of the day it ap-
pears, and really becomes warm sooner anc^

CEORGICAL ESSAYS. &§r.

more sensibly than they can do. But, when
all are kept in an equable state, there is no
difference of heat to be observed, the plants
always corresponding exactly to the tempera-
ture of the ambient medium. " In vegetabili-
" bus et plantis nullus reperitur caloris gradus
" ad tactum, neque in lachrymis ipsorum, ne-
" que in meduUis recenter apertis *."

Nay the animals of low life have but very
little additional heat beyond that of the air or
water. The insect tribe greatly disappoint
our expectations, seeming to be the most
tender and delicate of all animals, and yet
being those that can unhurt bear the greatest
colds. They are preserved in the coldest
seasons with little other shelter than the leaves
;and ragged barks of shrubs and trees, holes of
the walls, or a very slight cover of earth j and
some expose themselves quite naked and
opcn-f. Even in the bitter winters of 170i
and 172| the insect eggs, nymphas,and aurelias,
outlived the colds that were intolerable to the
livelier animals: and we know how vastly low
the fluid then subsided in the thermometers.

* Bacon Nov. Org. II. 12.
t Boerh. Chem. I. p. 287, 415.
2 E2

56 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

Mr. de Reaumur* found some very young
slender caterpillars that were able to bear a
cold under gr. 4 ; and, what is still more, the
French mathematicians in their Lapland jour-
ney in the autumn, were pestered with in-
numerable swarms of flies of various kinds f ,
whose eggs and aurelias must have wintered
under still greater colds than this : and I find
that caterpillars have but a small degree of
heat, about a division or two above the air
they live in.

The whole insect tribe is commonly brought
under the clafs of cold animals J: on which ac-
count I cannot but take particular notice of
a very singular exception in the heat of bees,
a very remarkable branch of that genus of
living creatures. As these, according to the
curious observations of naturalists, have some-
thing very peculiar in their economy, fabric,
and generation, so I have observed that they
have a very singular constitution in the heat

* Mem. Ac. Sc. 1734, p. 257.

f Maupert Fig. de la Terre, p. 12. See too Boyle
Exp. of Cold, Abr. I. p 661.

X Vid. Bacon. Nov. Org. II. § 1 1. p. 167. § 12. p. 186»
§ 13. p. 192. Nat. Hist. 73. Lgisttr de Bucc. p. 2V5.

<3EOr6ical essays. 57

of their bodies. This I have experienced fre-
quently ; and I find that the heat of a swarm
of bees raises a thermometer buried amongst
them above gr. 91; a degree of heat nothing
inferior to our own.

The other animals of low life, agreeable to
what I observed of the ordinary insects, have
but very little additional heat above that of
their supporting medium. I could scarcely
distinguish any in muscles and oysters. It
was very little in the branchial fishes. In
flounders, whitings, codfish, and haddocks, the
heat was found scarce a degree more than the
salt water they were swimming in, even when
that was so low as gr. 41. Nor are the red
fishes much warmer than they. Some trouts,
whose heat I examined, were but at gr. 62,
when the river water they had been swimming
in was at gr. 61 *. Fish can live in water any
thing warmer than freezing, that is, any thing
above gr. 32.

* And latelj at Paris I found the heat of a carp
scarcely to exceed gr. 54; the heat of the water wherein
1 examined it. The heat of an eel came out in the saaie
way.

E3

54 GEORGieAL ESSAYS,

The result of several trials, made snails about
2 degrees warmer than the air. Frogs and
land tortoises seemed to have the principle of
heat something stronger, viz. about 5 degrees
higher than the air they breathed in. Which
I suppose to be the case of the ordinary
breathing animals^who indeed have lungs (but
these lungs of a wide vesicular form) and have
their blood not a great deal warmer than the
branchial fishes. Such I take to be the sea
tortoises,toads, vipers, and all the serpent kind,
who all have their lungs of the same fabric,
and the same cold constitution of blood. But
most of this sort of animals are not able to bear
very great colds ; they, in the severe seasons,
retiring into lurking places, where they are to-
jcrably well sheltered ; often perhaps at about
the middle temperature of gr. 48 or so. Their
vis vita is indeed in those seasons very low*,
and their waste of substance exceedingly
small f. And I suppose the same may be
said of the swallows, and other sleeping birds
and beasts, who, though naturally warm ani-

» See Harv. de Mot. Cord. &c. IV. p. 23. XVII.
p. 65. Leister de Coc hi. p. le*. de Bucc. p. 'Z+e, 251.

t See Phil. Trans. Abr, II. p. 825. Leister de Cochl.
p. 163, 165.

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 59

hials, much warmer than those already men-
tioned, are however in their inert state proba-
bly much colder than in their active and lively
seasons.

For the heat of hot animals is not uniformly
the same in all animals, and at all times.
That admits of a very great latitude; it varies
according to their various kinds and the cir-
cumstances of each. The surface of their bo-
dies are, like other things, much affected by
the heat or cold of the ambient medium, and
consequently wrought upon by all the varie-
ties of seasons and climates, if not sufficiently
sheltered from their influences. When that is,
their external and internal heat is nearly the
same J but still differing something in differ-
ent animals.

Dr. Boerhaave * indeed speaks of the heat
of hot animals as in a natural state pretty uni-
form, or the same in all, reckoning it com-
monly to be such as to raise the mercury in
the thermometer to gr. 92, or at most 94»
And so, too. Dr. Pitcairn'sf heat of the hu-

• Chera. I. p. 192, 207, 213, 414, 415, 526.
fEl. Med. II. 1. §26.

£4

60 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

man skin at his gr. 17, falls near our gr. 92".
Mr. Amontons * by several trials, found the
heat communicated by the human body to- his
thermometer to be at dig. 58yi, 58J-, 58^,
58ry, 58^, These, by calculation, I find to
fall about Fahrenheit's gr. 91, 92, and 93.
Sir IsaacNewton's t gr. 12, which he makes
equivalent to the external heat of the human
body, and to the heat of a bird hatching eggs,
comes to gr. 9bj: in ours. Fahrenheit himself |
places his heat of the human body and blood
at gr. 96. And at this mark Dr. Mufschen-
broek || says, the thermometer stands, when it
is immerged in the blood flowing from an ani-
mal ; though in another ** place he speaks of
gr. 92 or 94, as a pretty high degree of heat
for our blood.

I have very carefully made numberlefs ob-
servations on this subject of the heat of ani-
mals: and from them I must be allowed to say.

* Mem. Ac. Sc. 1703. p. 235, 243.

t Phil. Trans. Abr. IV. 2. p. 1, 3.

t Ibid. p. 18,52.

11 Eph. Ultraj. 1723, p. 679.

•» Efs. dePhys. p. 502.

GEORGICAL ESSAYS, 61

that I find all these reckonings much too gene-
ral, and in the main considerably too low.
I suspect that, at least in many of them, there
was not sufficient time allowed to warm tho-
roughly the bulbs of their thermometers^ or
perhaps at the time of trial the folks hands had
not the natural sheltered heat. The human
kind is amongst the lowest of hot animals * :
and yet I by the heat of my skin every way
well sheltered, at a medium in an infinite num-
ber of trials, raise the mercury in the thermo-
meter to about gr. 97 or 98. In some it goes
a little higher, in others it keeps something
lower. Urine new made, and that into a ves-
sel of the same temperature with itself, is
scarcely a degree hotter than the skin, as I
have found by many repeated observations.
And that heat of the urine we may reckon
nearly equal to the heat of the neighbouring
viscera. Dr. Hales f found the heat of his
skin to be 54, and that of urine new made 58
degrees of his thermometer, which coincide
with our gr. 99 and 103, if the calcul that was
made of the correspondence of his thermome-
ter with Fahrenheit's had been perfectly exact.

• Caesalp. Qu. Parip. V. 6. p. I j2.
t Vcg. Stat. p. 59.

62 CEORGICAL ESSAYS.

In the mean time, as I just now said, tlie
human kind is among the lowest of hot
animals. Ordinary quadrupeds, as dogs, cats*
sheep, oxen, swine, &c. by the heat of meir
skin raise the Thermometer 4 or 5 divisions
higher than we, as to gr. 100, 101, 102, and
some to 103 or a little more.

And the breathing or cetaceous fishes are
as hot as they, as Dr. Boerhaave* very justly
reckoned ; though he ascribes too small a
heat to them, and to all other respiring ani-
mals, when he confined it within the narrow
bounds of 92 or 93 degrees. Those who
have had occasion to travel into the East
Indies f tell us, that the blood of the Manati
Fish, or Sea Cow, was sensibly warm to the
touch. And Mr. Richer J, a curious enough
observer of natural things, found the blood of
the porpus as warm as the blood of land
animals. I myself upon trial found the heat
of the skin of that amphibious animal the sea

*Chem. 1. p. 415.

f See Ent. Apolog. &c. p. 207. Le Comle Mem. de
la Chine, II. p. 343. "

t See Du Ham. Hist. Ac. Sc, p. m. 157, Mem. Ac.

Sc. 1666—1668, VII. p. 32:;.

OEORGICAL ESSAYS* 63

calf, to be near gr. 102. In the cavity of the
abdomen it was about a division higher. In
all this, as in many other respects, agreeing
with our ordinary land quadrupeds ; which,
in the structure and form of their viscera^ the
breathing fishes do very much resemble.

The Lord Chancellor Bacon* gives it as a
current opinion that the bird kind are very
warm. They are indeed the warmest of all
animals, warmer still than quadrupeds by S
or 4 degrees, as I have found by experiments
on ducks, geese, hens, pigeons, partridges,
swallows, &c. The bulb end of the Ther-
mometer being lodged in their groin, the mer»
cury was raised to gr. 103, 104, 105, 106,
107 ', and in a hen hatching eggs I once
found (for it is not always so high) the heat
at gr. 108.

It was, I presume, without sufficient ground
that the just now mentioned noble Lord-]'
reckoned the external flesh of animals, when
in action, to be hotter than their blood, &c.
Generally in my experiments both on birds

♦Nov. Org. II. 13. p. 193.
t Ibfd.

64 GEORGICAL ESSA"?S.

and quadrupeds the viscera were found neat
a degree hotter than the skin ; though some-
times I could perceive but little or no dif-
ference. And a Thermometer thrust into a
fistulous ulcer running in amongst the muscles
of the thigh in a man, showed a heat
very little greater than that of the sheltered
skin.

As the circulation is so very quick and free,
the heat of the blood in the arteries and veins
is pretty much the same, and "but a small
matter, it may be a degree or so, above the
common best of the bowels, or near two
degrees warmer than the skin ; a much
smaller difference than what Sir Isaac Newton*
and Dr. Hales j- afsign . according to whose
reckonings that would be no lefs than lO or
11 degrees.

V. Of the preternatural Heats of Animals.
These then are the heats of animals as in
my experiments they generally appeared to
me. But they are not to be held as universal.

1.2.

♦ Phil, Trans. Abr. IV. 2. p. i . -.
t Veg. Slat. p. 53. Haemast. p. 98.

CEORGICAL ESSAYS. 65

Beside the varieties in different individuals,
the heat even in the same animals does not
keep always the same. For ordinary indeed,
and in health, the variations are not great ;
but by diseases and extraordinary accidents it
may be much altered, and brought both above
and below the natural standard. I cannot
say that I have yet had opportunities of
making observations enough to lay down any
thing sufficient or satisfactory concerning the
heat of animals in preternatural or morbid
states. However, I think I may venture . to
say, that it is not so vastly great in fevers as
some are apt to conjecture.

The medical writers all take notice of the
constant and burning heats in ardent fevers.
And we are told* of the Emperor Constantius
and of some others, that they were of such a
dry hot temperament, as, when heated by a
fever, in some measure to burn the hands of
those that touched them. But this burning
heat no body then knew how to measure, or
to preserve to us any distinct intelligible notion
of it. The determining and affixing the due

See Bacon, Nov. Org. II. 13. p. 192.

S€ GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

bounds to such things being reserved to this
present age. The ingenious Dr. Hales* sup.^
poses the heat of the blood in high fevers to
be about gr. 85 in his Thermometer, which
comes to gr. 136t in ours; a degree of heat
which I believe no animal ever arrives at,
nay, which I reckon no living creature is able
to bear. Dr. Boerhaave f furnisheth us with
some curious observations of animals very soon
destroyed in air of gr. 146, who all died in lefs
time than what would have been necefsary to
bring their bodies up to the heat of gr. 136.
A Thermometer put into one of their mouths
^ little after its death stood at gr. 1 10.

Nor, on the other hand, would I suppose
the fever heat so low, or that low heat so
dangerous, as the great Dr. Boerhaave J seems
to do. He is afraid of its coagulating the
serum of the blood, reckoning that terrible
mischievous work might by effected by a de-
gree of heat not much above gr. 100. Whence

* Veg. Stat. p. 60.
■f Chem. I. p. 275.

t Aph. 96y 689. Chem. I. p, 343. 11. p. 352^ 353,
378, 213, 357, 358.

GEORGICAL ESSAY^J, 67

Dr. Hales*, and Dr. Arbuthnotf, led thereto
by Dr. Boerhaave's authority, affirm, that the
natural heat of the blood of a human creature
approaches very near the degree of coagula-
tion. But I have seen fevers, and these not
cxcefsively vioJent neither, vi'herein I was
afsured, by observing the heat of the skin,
that the blood was five or six degrees above
gr. 100, without apprehending any such dan-
ger, or experiencing any such fatal effects J.
Such a heat, if neglected or wrong managed,
may indeed, as Hippocrates || very justly ob-
serves, difsipate the more thin and watery
parts, and so gradually thickening the whole
mafs of blood, have bad enough effe£ls that
way J if it do not bring on a putredinous
thinnefs. But directly to coagulate the serum
of blood, or the white of an egg, by several

• Haemast. p. 104. 105.

f Efs. on Air, p. 1 14, 21 1.

:|: In the ague I had lately, during the height of the
paroxysm, the heat of my skin was gr. 106 ; and so that
of my blood gr. 107 or 108. And farther, what is very
remarkable, in the beginning of the fit when I was all
shivering, and under a great sense of cold, my skin was
however two or three degrees warmer tha8 in a natural
Jiealthy state.

)! ly. De Morb. XXIJI. 2$, &c.

68 GEORGICAL ESSAYS,

trials I found a heat requisite beyond any
thing ever we can experience in a living
animal. They continue thin and liquid till
the thermometer points at gr. 156 or so.
Which is an arithmetical mean betwixt the
ordinary heat of human blood at gr. 99 or 100,
and that of boiling water at gr. 212 j exceed-
ing the one just as much as it falls short of the
other.

But no animal, I say, , can bear a heat near
this. Beside the bad effects it would have
upon the fluid, I know our nerves are not
able to endure such a scorching heat. If
ihat be but a few degrees hotter than our
blood, it comes to be intolerable*. Sir Isaac
Newton f and Mr. AmontonsJ felt water
too hot for their hands stirring in it easily to
bear at gr. i08. I suspect indeed the full
heat of the water had not been thoroughly

• This excellent Efsay was written in the year 1738,
long before the experiments made by Sir Joseph Banks,
Dr. Solander, and Dr. Fordyce, by which it appears, that
the human body is capable of bearing an astonishing de-
gree of heat. Phil. Tran. A. H.

f Phil. Trans. Abr. IV. 2. p. 2.
t Mem. Acad. Sc. 703. p. 236. 244.

OEORGICAL ESSAYS 69

communicated to their too bulky thermo-'
meters. I find it becomes scalding hot to my
hands and feet at gr. 112 or 1 14. And so I
reckon will most people find, who have not
their organs too callous. We should not, how-
ever, judge of the delicacy of the body by the
sensation of the hands, which in many folks
by labour and use are rendered pretcrnaturally
insensible. Mr. Amontons's valet could bear
water of the heat of gr. 122. And I have seen
folks w^ho could handle things freely, that I
could not well touch. I doubt not but the
hotter animals can likewise bear a greater heat
than us. And, on the other side, fishes and
cold animals may be scalded to death with a
heat lefs ihan that of our blood. A perch,
one of the most lively of the branchial fishes,
died in three minutes in water heated but to
gr. 96*.

At first, men often gave names to things
from certain resemblances, without pretending
thereby to understand or exhibit their natures.
And in this view physicians may continue to
talk of the ro -rvf, the febrls ardens, and in-

* Mufschen. Tent. Exp. Ac. Cim. Add. p \'2'^.

Volume VI. F

70 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

Jiammations, and freely use these and other fiery
names, if they mean no more by them (as it
is Jikely they did not in the original use of
them) than a figurative way of exprefsing ex-
traordinary heats of the body, or the heat of
the blood carried considerably beyond its na-
tural state. But from undeniable experi-
ments we see they must be much mistaken,
who not confining themselves to the figurative
use of these names, and led astray by vain
and ill-grounded theories, talk of real scorch-
ings of the body, and actual burnings of the
heart and other h'scera, of ebullitions and ef-
fervescences of the blood, of its being kindled
and ready to burst into flame *, and of other
such fiery descriptions of heats, which no
animal, while in life, can be brought into.
So that these are ways of speaking, which to
prevent mistakes, should have no place out of
poetry ; where alone such bold figures, and
these exprefsed in such a strong manner,
without any restriction, are to be allowed.
Thus some people by their profefsion, may be
permitted

Jecur to burn, and Cor to pierce^
As either best supplies their verse f.

* Willis Pharm. Rat. 11. p. 22.
f Priofj Alma, p, 87.

GEORGICAt ESSAYS. 71

But for Others, who from the nature and
great consequence of the subject they deal in
should be more strictly tied to truth, gravely
to talk of the liver burning up the bile, and
speaking of the heart as they would of a
piece of red-hot iron, burning the hands of
those that touch it *, or boiling up into froth
the blood that falls into it f ; and others to
give out the stomach as a kettle boiling our
food by its great heat J; such afsertions as these
are unwarrantable impositions on the senses of
mankind, and should be dropt by all sober
thinking men;

We see then that natufe seldom carries the
body or blood of animals to a degree of heat
very much beyond its ordinary healthy tem-
perature. Nor indeed are we able to bear any
very great excefs of that kind, either in the

* Abu. Jaafar Ebn. Tophail. Philos. Autodid. p. 64,
All Rodoan apud Gom. Pereir. Antonian. Marg. p. 32o,
770, Columb. de Re Anat. XIV. p. m. 477. 481 . Diemerb.
Anat. II. 6.

t Des Cartes de Meth. 5. p. 29. De Horn. p. 8.
De Form. Feet. § IS, 72. De Pafs. I. 8, 9. Epist. I. 52.

% Hipp, apud Celf. Med. Praef, p. 6, Stukely of the
Spleen, p. 35.

F2

72 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

body itself, or in the medium without us.
We can, however, on the other hand, endure
greater excefses of cold, at least externally
affecting us; there being many remarkable
instances of the surface and extremities under-
going very great colds without being ab-
solutely destroyed. We have all, I suppose,
some time or other^ even here, experienced
very sharp nipping colds. These, however,
are nothing, compared to the frightful ac-
counts we have had of the great prevalency of
cold on the bodies of men and other animals
in the more northern countries. Often are
they quite frozen to death ; but, at other times,
though the cold has gone a great 1 ength, they
are happily recovered. We have been told*
of animals found stiff cold in their lurking
places, or buried in lumps of ice, that, by the
stimulus of pain, or a w^armer air, have been
again brought to their life and senses. Partial
freezings of the nose, hands, feet, &c. of the
human body are frequent. But, what is much
more, there are instances f of men being so
frozen by the lump, that when plunged into

• Bo)le Exp, on Cold, Abr. I. p. 671, 673. Quefnay
CEcon. Aiiim. p. 25.

fFabr. Hild. de Gang. &c. XIII. p. 792.

GEORGICAL ESSAYS 7S

cold water they contracted a cover of ice over
their whole body, which therefore in all its
exterior parts must have had a cold consider-
ably under gr. 32. If It canne so low as gr. 25,
the blood must have been frozen in some of
its vefsels. However, even in this terrible
threatening state, when the whole body seemed
to run such a risk of congelation and the sleep'
of death, by good management, well under-
stood in these intemperate countries, people
have been brought to life again. In such ex-
treme cases one would think that the internal
heat too must have been considerably im-
paired ; but how low that iriay be carried
without danger or immediate death, we can-
not yet determine. In the mean time, the
measuring the heat of the birds and beasts
that pafs the winter in a state of sleep and in-
sensibility, might give us some light into this
matter *.

* This very excellent treatise was written in the year 17 S3.

AH.

F3

74 GEORGICAL ESSAYS,

ESSAY II.

On Inland Navigatiom aiid Public Roads.

In tills country, the commerce and agricul-
ture of which has derived such important be-
nefit from the extensive means already ef-
fected, of giving facility to the conveyance
of the various products of the island, from
parts where they were uselefs, to others
where they are valuable 3 it is an inquiry highly
interesting, whether it may not be an object
deserving the attention of the legislature, to
promote a more general extension of those
benefits, by a general survey of the kingdom,
with this object particularly in view.

Water is brought to us without expense of
carriage, and is one of the many blefsings
showered down upon us, the sources of which
are inexhaustible. The parts of which, though
yielding to the least power, yet are capable
of supporting immense weight, but are not
like the materials with which roads are con-

GEORCICAL ESSAYS. 75

Strutted, liable to great wear ; and a canal
once made, is not liable to much repair.

About four acres of land are cut up for
the length of one mile of canal ; but this
land so cut is not yet lost, but may become
a pasture for fish, and equally valuable as in
its former state j and one horse on a canal
is capable of performing the work of fifty
horses upon a road.

The length of canals in the kingdom,
when the whole under prosecution at pre-
sent are completed, will be about 1000 miles.
The sea-line of England, Scotland, and Ireland,
and the adjacent islands, is about three thousand
eight hundred miles in length.

Imperfect as our present maps are, they
give tolerable information of the relative situa-
tion of roads and rivers, and of the distance
of places from each other ; but they convey
no adequate ideas of the respective heights or
deprefsions of the surface.

Taking the mean between the high and
low water of a neap-tide as the level of the
sea ; if level lines were traced round the

F4

76 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

island at equal heights above each other (for
intance twenty feet), and those lines wer^e
surveyed and laid down on a map as zones,
you might, by counting those lines, ascertain
within a few feet the height of any given
point above the level of the sea : as pro-
montories on the sea-coast, where many of
them would meet, their height would be
shown; in the vallies, where those lines
would diverge from each other, you would
ascertain the falls of the rivers within given
distances ; above the general surface of the
country the lines would define the shape of
the higher grounds, and mountains ; where
they would crofs public roads, stones might be-
fixed (which on local surveys might be re-
ferred to), ascertaining by figures thereon, the
height of those points above the level of the
sea; or above or below simijlar points in other
situations ; they might be of some use also,
on being referred to in meteorological obser-'
vations.

In the surveying of those lines, they might,
by intersection, mark the situation of towns,
villages, and remarkable points, and thereby
would much contribute to the obtaining a cor-
rect map of the country. 3

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 77

The conduct of this businefs might be in-
trusted to an able surveyor, who should have
under his direction ten or twelve sets of sur-
veyors and levellers ; one surveyor one le-
veller in each set, with three or four labourers
as afsistants ; active young men, who might
be fully competent to the execution of their
part of the businefs, might be engaged at
little expense ; their observations would be
compared and corrected by their principal 5
and by setting out together, they would cor-
rect and check each other, when in pro-
minent parts of the country they would be
near each other.

With such a map before us, we might ge^
nerally ascertain the practicability of making
water communications from one part of the
country to another ; whether they might be
conducted on one level, or what rise and fall
must be encountered : from hence, afsisted by
a mineral survey, and by the various Infor*
mation which will be obtained, we might
draw the outlines of a general system, which
would stand upon record, to be referred to
when any local project may be brought for-
ward.

7S GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

While the zones in the map of the island
would be complete but on a small scale, the
parts of those zones appropriate to the county-
maps or other subdivisions, would, on a larger
scale, be more accurately defined.

In the year 1792 I had occasion to make
some observations on the subject of collecting
and preserving flood waters by means of re-
servoirs J and I understand those observations
hav€ been referred to in the Report from
Staifordshire.

Where proper situations may be found on
waste lands, the appropriation of such lands
to this use will hardly be objected to* ; but
it might be a question, whether the lofs of
more valuable land would be compensated
by the benefits which other land would derive
from it by irrigation ; I believe those con-
versant in this practice would resolve it in
the affirmative : but in conversation with a
gentleman eminently distinguished by his im-
provement of the breed of live-stock, he has

* If such a survey were undertaken, the surveyors
might take notice of proper places for making reser-
voirs.

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 79

denied the position, that land is lost by being
covered with water; and he is of opinion,
that an acre of water well managed in breeding
or feeding of fish, would produce more food
for the use of man, than an acre of the best
land under the best management ; in corro-
boration of this opinion, I have been informed
that a farmer in the neighbourhood of AVol-
verhampton, from an acre and a half of water,
has for several years succefsively sold his fish
in the market of AVolverhampton for more
than twelve pounds per annum.

It is certain that little or no systematic at-
tention has been given to inland fisheries j it
is at least a matter worthy of investigation,
and deserving of attention.

It may be objected, that reservoirs from
which the water will be drawn oflT in summer,
will be ineligible for fish. But it is ne-
cefsary to be understood, that those reservoirs
will generally be made by a high embankment
or head acrofs a valley; that the earth for
making such head will be dug out of the
bottom of the valley, within the reservoir;
that a reservoir from thirty to sixty acres will
generally require a head from twenty to thirty

90 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

feet In height ; that when two-thirds of the
depth is drawn off, there may remain from
five to ten acres of water, which will contain
|jut a small quantity of water for irrigation,
l>ut be amply sufficient to maintain the fish
for a month or two, until it may be reple-
nished by autumnal rain.

While the water is gradually drawn off,
the desiccated borders of the reservoir may be
ploughed, and sown with some vegetable ;
which may serve as food for the fish in winter,
or as a nidus for the ova of insects, on which
the fish may feed.

It may next be a question worth conside-
ration, how far navigable canals may serve in
some cases in aid of irrigation, as principal
conductors of the water from reservoirs.

Many miles of canals are cut on sloping
grounds, and are well adapted to discharge
water over lands which lie below their level i
in wet seasons they have generally a super-
abundance of water, which might be con-
veniently spared, while reservoirs are collecting
water for the summer; in dry seasons few
have water to spare, and any interference with

<5E0IIGICAL ESSAYS. 81

them might create jealousy and distrust. In
canals which may be hereafter projected, and
especially if subjected to systematic regulation,
terms of compact may be easily adjusted
between land-owners and undertakers of
canals, while bills are pending in parliament.
With those already obtained, it may not be so
easy to treat ; but it is certainly practicable
when water is discharged from a reservoir into
a canal, to ascertain the quantity so dis-
charged : it is also practicable to lay pipes
through the banks of the canal, which shall
discharge an equal quantity, and if the time
of running out corresponds with the time of
running in, no disadvantage can result to tlic
navigation.

While canal navigations are avovi^edly safe,
easy, and certain, except in times of frost, I
cannot agree with those who maintain, that
they are in all cases preferable to river navi-
gations : there is no rule without exception ;
there arc numberlefs instances where river
navigations are preferable to canals j first,
because they are generally effected at the least
expense i and secondly, because when ob-
structions axe removed and avoided, they are
susceptible of more expedition ; except in the

8{2I GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

few weeks in a year where they are annoyed
by floods j for being lefs encumbered with
bridges, and having generally a greater width,
vefsels are enabled to make use of sails ; and
at such times the labour of horses is saved.
On the river Trent, which, compared with
some others, is very imperfect, goods are con-
veyed seventy miles for eight shillings per ton,
including freight, tonnage, risk, and profit of
the boat-owners 5 there are but few canal na-
vigations on which the expense of conveyance
is not half as much more ; and I consider the
expense of conveyance as the chief criterion^
In point of expedition, vefsels frequently make
a voyage of seventy miles, and back again in
a week, including the time of lading and un-
lading ; this has been done by the same vefsel
for ten weeks succefsively ; and would often
be done if they were not obliged to wait for
their lading.

Next to inland navigation, public roads,
and the carriages used on them, are highly
deserving of public attention. I do not know
any thing in this country (where mechanism
in general has been patronized, and brought
nearer to perfection than in most others) that
has been more neglected than the proper con-

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 83

struction of wheel-carriages, and the formation
of roads.

It has been generally acknowledged, that
for carriages of burden, broad wheels, which
will roll the roads, are the most eligible ; and
by the exemptions which have been granted
to those who use broad wheels, the legislature
has certainly looked forward to the benefits to
be expected from the use of them ; but never
was a proposition more misunderstood, or an
indulgence more abused. Of all the bar-
barous and abominable machines that have
been contrived by ignorance, and maintained
by vulgar prejudice, none have equalled the
broad-wheeled carriages that are now in use ;
instead of rolling the roads, they grind them
into mud and dust.

Wheels compelled to move forward in right
lines cannot roll a road, unlefs they are
cylindrical ; this was never stipulated by the
legislature j they only required that the wheels
should tread flat on the road, a given number
of inches in width.

The wheel-wright, to give more strength
to the wheel, to make the axis as short as

84 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

pofsible, and to give more room above for the
body of the carriage, dished his wheels (to
use their phrase,) at the same time making
the sole fiat ; but instead of the sole or rim
being cylindrical, it was a portion of a cone,
the property of which, if it were to roll, would
be to revolve in a circle j in a circle it could
not revolve, unlefs set at liberty from the
carriage, and then the wheels would leave
each other, take a short turn, and come back
again. Thus forced against their inclination
to move parallel to each other in right lines,
with an immense weight on them;, having a
little liberty on the arm or axis, they partly
rolled and partly were dragged ; this was
found so laborious to the horses, that the next
effort of their ingenuity was, in the first place
to make the sole convex, and next to make
the middle rim of the tire or iron which binds
the wheel, half an inch thicker than those on
each side of it : by this means, with all the
expense and encumbrance of broad and heavy
wheels, they are completely converted into
narrow ones. But they are much more
mischievous than narrow ones, because they
are suffered to carry immense loads, and from
their exemptions from toll, do not contribute
to the repair of the roads half so much as

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 85

narrow-wheeled carriages, which do far lefs
injury. On a hard road, where only the
narrow rim has a bearing, they crush the
materials 3 on a soft road, where by sinking,
the whole surface comes into contact, they
grind the materials into mud and dust, at a
great expense of horse flesh.

If you rcnionstrate with the wheel-wright
he will tell you, that if the wheel treads fiat
on the ground, as there is only one point at a
time of the circumference that touches the
ground, it is immaterial what the position of
the remainder of the wheel is in, which is
moving in the air : if you tell him to make a
garden-roller in the form of a sugar loaf, he
will find that though only one point, or rather
line of the circumference touches the ground,
while the remainder is moving in the air, it
will, if moved at ease, revolve in a circle ; and
to move it in a right line, it must with dif-
ficulty be dragged ; and if you cut off a
frustum of it, it will still move in the same
circle ; he cannot deny it, but still he is not
convinced.

Public roads will never be maintained in
repair as they ought to be, until tlie legislature
Volume VI. G

86 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

compel the use of cylindrical broad wheels ;
if once got into general use the roads will
become smooth, and free from obstacles ;
when obstacles are removed, there is then an
opening for further improvement ; the wheels
may be made one-half lefs in height, and con-
sequently in weight. There will be a little
more friction on the axis, but this is a trifling
consideration, compared with the evils which
I have described ; the roads will be main-
tained at half the expense, and travelling
carriages will move with ease and expedition.

In the formation of roads two things of
material importance are unattended to ; the
one where roads are repaired with stone, is
the neglect of breaking the stones, which
ought to be left not larger than walnuts j I
was ashamed for my country, when I saw
this minutely attended to in a wild part of
the north-west of Ireland: the other, which
is still more important, the use of water on
roads in wet seasons ; on roads buried in mud,
jf accident turns on to them a little stream of
water, such parts of the road are always the
best. I must request of gentlemen who
travel, to give some attention to this cir-
cumstance : on the turnpike roads numbers of

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 87

men are employed in scraping off the dirt,
and with it they scrape off much of the good
material ; carriages are afterwards employed
at a considerable expense to carry it off.

There are few situations where in rainy
seasons water may not be collected from the
ditches of adjoining lands, and be dammed
up and turned on to the roads : this, by the
afsistance of one-third of the labourers that
are usually employed, will effectually do more
businefs than the whole of them in scraping ;
by washing away the fluid mud, and leaving
the gravelly particles in the ruts, on the return
of dry weather, if the water is turned off into
the ditches, the road will dry more in one
day, than with the mud on it will dry in a
week.

Some miles of the road between Leicester
and Northampton is managed in this way,
though not so well managed as it might be j
there are a few other instances of this practice,
but none of them perfect. In the neigh-
bourhood of Daventry their materials are so
bad, that the roads would sometimes be im-
pafsable without the use of water ; and they

G2

88 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

have from necefsity erected pumps to raise
the water where they have no other means of
getting it.

In the late wet season, the road between
London and Uxbridge, with the best materials
in the world to make it, was almost impafsable,
while streamlets of water were running in the
ditches, which in a few days, if they had been
made use of, would have made it as good as
any road in the kingdom.

ESSAY III.

On Natural Htstoiy as applied to the proof of an in-
tdligent Creator.

IN all cases, wherein the mind feels itself in
danger of being confounded by variety, it is
sure to rest upon a few strong points, or per-
haps upon a single instance. Amongst a
multitude of proofs, it is one that does the
businefs. If we observe in any argument,
that hardly two minds fix upon the same in-
stance, the diversity of choice shows the strength

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 89

of the argument, because it shows the number
and competition of the examples. There is
no subject in which the tendency to dwell
upon select or single topics is so usual, be-
cause there is no subject, of which, in its full
extent, the latitude is so great, as that of na-
tural history applied to the proof of an in-
telligent Creator. For my part, I take my
stand in human anatomy : and the examples
of mechanism I should be apt to draw out
from the copious catalogue which it supplies,
are the pivot upon which the head turns,
the ligament within the socket of the hip
joint, the pulley or trochlear muscle of the
eye, the epiglottis, the bandages which tie
down the tendons of the wrist and instep, the
slit or perforated muscles at the hands and
feet, the knitting of the intestines to the
mesentery, the course of the chyle into the
blood, and the constitution of the sexes as
extended throughous the whole of the anirkal
creation. Of these instances, there is not one
of the number which I do not think decisive ;
not one which is not strictly mechanical : nor
have I read or heard of any solution of these
appearances, which, in the smallest degree,
shakes the conclusion that we build upon
them.

G3

90 GEORGICAL ESSAYS

But of the greatest part of those who
read arguments to prove the existence of a
God, it will be said, that they leave off only
where they began ; that they were never
ignorant of this great truth, never doubted
of it 3 that it does not therefore appear, what
is gained by researches from which no new
opinion is learnt, and upon the subject of
which no proofs were wanted. Now I
answer, that, by investigation, the following
points are always gained, in favour of doctrines
even the most generally acknowledged, (sup-
posing them to be true,) viz. stability and im-
prefsion. Occasions will arise to try the lirm-
nefs of our most habitual opinions. And, upon
these occasions, it is a matter of incalculable use
to feel our foundation ; to find a support in
argument for what we had taken up upon
authority. In the present case, the argu-
ments upon which the conclusion rests, are
exactly such as a truth of universal concern
ought to rest upon. " They are sufficiently
open to the views and capacities of the un-
learned, at the same time that they acquire
new strength and lustre from the discoveries
of the learned." If they had been altogether
abstruse and recondite, they would not have
found their way to the understandings of- tlte

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 91

mafs of mankind ; if they had been merely
popular, they might have wanted solidity.

But, secondly, what is gained by research
in the stability of our conclusion, is also
gained from it in imprefsion. Physicians tell
us, that there is a great deal of difference be-
tween taking a medicine, and the medicine
getting into the constitution. A difference
not unlike which, obtains with respect to those
great moral propositions, which ought to form
the directing principles of human conduct.
It is one thing to afsent to a proposition or
this sort i another, and a very different thing,
to have properly imbibed its influence. I take
the case to be this : perhaps almost every
man living has a particular train of thought,
into which his mind falls, when at leisure
from the imprefsions and ideas that oc-
casionally excite it : perhaps, also, the train of
thought here spoken of, more than any other
thing, determines the character. It is of the
utmost consequence, therefore, that this pro-
perty of our constitution be well regulated.
Now it is by frequent or continued meditation
upon a subject, by placing a subject in dif-
ferent points of view, by induction of par-
ticulars, by variety of examples, by applying

92 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

principles to the solution of phaenomena, by
dwelling upon proofs and consequences, that
mental exercise is drawn into any particular
channel. It is by these means, at least, that
we have any power over it. The train of
spontaneous thought, and the choice of that
train, may be directed to different ends, and
may appear to be more or lefs judiciously
hxed, according to the purpose in respect of
which we consider it : but, in a moral view, I
bhall not, I believe, be contradicted when I
say, that, if one train of thinking be more
desirable than another, it is that which regards
the phaenomena of nature with a constant
reference to a supreme intelligent Author.
To have made this the ruling, the habitual
sentiment of our minds, is to have laid the
foundation of ever}' thing which is religious.
The world from thenceforth becomes a temple,
and life itself one continued act of adoration.
The change is no lefs than this, that, whereas
formerly God was seldom in our thoughts,
we can now scarcely look upon any thing
without perceiving its relation to him. Every
organized natural body, in the provisions
which it contains for its sustentation and pro-
pagation, testifies a care on the part of the
Creator exprefsly directed to these purposes.

CEORGICAL ESSAYS. 93

We are on all sides surrounded by such bodies;
examined in their parts, wonderfully curious ;
compared with one another, no lefs wonder-
fully diversified. So that the mind, as well as
the eye, may cither expatiate in variety and
multitude, or fix itself down to the investiga-
tion of particular divisions of the science. And
in either case, it will rise up from its occupa-
tion, pofsefsed by the subject, in a very dif-
ferent manner, and with a very different de-
gree of influence, from what a mere afsent to
any verbal proposition which can be formed
concerning the existence of the Deity, at
least that merely complying afsent with which
those about us are satisfied, and with which
we are too apt to satisfy ourselves, will or can
produce upon the thoughts. More especially
may this difference be perceived, in the de-
gree of admiration and of awe, with which the
Divinity is regarded, when represented to the
understanding by its own remarks, its own
reflections, and its own reasonings compared
with what is excited by any language that can
be used by others. The works of nature want
only to be contemplated. When contem-
plated, they have every thing in them which
can astonish by their greatnefs : for, of the
vast scale of operation through which our

94f GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

discoveries carry us, at one end we see an intel-
ligent Power arranging planetary systems, fix-
ing, for instance, the trajectory of Saturn, or
constructing a ring of a hundred thousand
miles diameter, to surround his body, and be
suspended like a magnificent arch over the
heads of his inhabitants ; and, at the other,
bending a hooked tooth, concerting and pro-
viding an appropriate mechanism, for the
clasping and reclasping of the filaments of the
feather of a humming bird. We have proof,
not only of both these works proceeding from
an intelligent agent, but of their proceeding
from the same agent : for, in the first place,
we can trace an identity of plan, a connection
of system, from Saturn to our own globe j
and when arrived upon our globe, we can, in
the second place, pursue the connection
through all the organized, especially the ani-
mated, bodies which it supports. We can ob-
serve marks of a common relation, as well
to one another, as to the elements of which
their habitation is composed. Therefore one
mind hath planned, or at least hath pre-
scribed a general plan, for all these pro-
ductions. One Being has been concerned
in all.

CEORGICAL ESSAYS. 95

Under this stupendous Being we live. Our
happinefs, our existence, is in his hands. All
we expect must come from him. Nor ought
we to feel our situation insecure. In every
nature, and in every portion of nature which
we can descry, we find attention bestowed
upon even the minutest parts. The hinges in
the wings of an earwig, and the joints of its
antennae, are as highly wrought as if the
Creator had had nothing else to finish. We
see no signs of diminution of care by multipli-
city of objects, or of distraction of thought by
variety. AVe have no reason to fear, there-
fore, our being forgotten, or overlooked, or
neglected.

The existence and character of the Deity,
is, in every view, the most interesting of all
human speculations. In none, however, is it
more so, than as it facilitates the belief of the
fundamental articles of Revelation. It is a
step to have it proved, that there must ba
something in the world more than what we
see. It is a further step to know, that,
amongst the invisible things of nature, there
must be an intelligent mind, concerned in its
production, order, and support. These points
being afsured to us by Natural Theology, we

96 GEORGICAL ESSAYS,

may well leave to Revelation the disclosure
of many particulars, which our researches can-
not reach, respecting either the nature of this
Being as the original cause of all things, or
his character and designs as a moral governor ^
and not only so, but the more full confirm-
ation of other particulars, of which, though
they do not lie altogether beyond our reason-
ings and our probabilities, the certainty is by
no means equal to the importance. The true
Theist will be the first to listen to any cre-
dible communication of divine knowledge.
Nothing which he has learnt from Natural
Theology will diminish his desire of further
instruction, or his disposition to receive it with
humility and thankfulnefs. He wishes for
light: he rejoices in light. His inward ve-
neration of this great Being, will incline him
to attend with the utmost seriousnefs, not only
to all that can be discovered concerning him
by researches into nature, but to all that is
taught by a revelation, which gives reasonable
proof of having proceeded from him.

But, above every other article of revealed
religion, does the anterior belief of a Deity,
bear with the strongest force, upon that grand
point, which gives indeed interest and im-

GEORGICAL ESSAYS 97

portance to all the rest — the resurrection of the
human dead. The thing might appear hope-
lefs, did we not see a power at work adequate
to the effect -, a power under the guidance of
an intelligent will, and a power penetrating
the inmost recefses of all substance. I am far
from justifying the opinion of those, who
" thought it a thing incredible that God should
raise the dead i" but I admit that it is first ne-
cefsary to be persuaded that there is a God ro
do so. This being thorouglily settled in our
minds, there seems to, be nothing in this pro-
cefs (concealed and mysterious as we confefs
it to be) which need to shock our belief.
They who have taken up the opinion, that the
acts of the human mind depend upon organi-
zation, that the mind itself indeed consists in
organization, are supposed to find a greater
difficulty than others do, in admitting a transi-
tion by death to a new state or sentient ex-
istence, because the old organization is appa-
rently difsolved. But I do not see that any
impracticability need be apprehended even by
these ; or that the change, even upon their
hypothesis, is far removed from the analogy of
some other operations, which we know with
certainty that the Deity is carrying on. In
the ordinary derivation of plants and animals

gS GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

from one another, a particle, in many cases,
minuter than all afsignable, all conceivable di-
mension ; an aura, an effluvium, an infinite-
simal j determines the organization of a future
body : does no lefs than fix, whether that
which is about to be produced, shall be a ve-
getable, a merely sentient, or a rational being;
an oak, a frog, or a philosopher ; makes all
these differences ; gives to the future body its
qualities,. and nature, and species. And this
particle, from which springs, and by which
is determined a whole future nature, itself
proceeds from, and owes its constitution to,
a prior body : neverthelefs, which is seen in
plants most decisively, the incepted organiza-
tion, though formed within, and through, and
by a preceding organization, is not corrupted
by its corruption, or destroyed by its difsolu-
tion ; but, on the contrary, is sometimes ex-
tricated and developed by those very causes ;
survives and comes into action, when the
purpose for which it was prepared, requires
its use. Now an economy which nature has
adopted, when the purpose was to transfer an
organization from one individual to another,
may have something analogous to it, when the
purpose is to transmit an organization from
one state of being to another state : and they

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 99

who found thought in organization, may see
something in this analogy applicable to their
difficulties ; for, whatever can transmit a
similarity of organization will answer their
purpose, because, according even to their own
theory, it may be the vehicle of consciousnefs,
and because consciousnefs carries identity
and individuality along with it through all
changes of form or of visible qualities. In the
most general case, that, as we have said, of
the derivation of plants and animals from one
another, the latent organization is either itself
similar to the old organization, or has the
power of communicating to new matter the
old organic form. But it is not restricted to
this rule. There are other cases, especially
in the progrefs of insect life, in which the
dormant organization does not much resemble
that which incloses it, and still lefs suits with
the situation in which the inclosing body is
placed, but suits with a different situation to
which it is destined. In the larva of the
libellula, which lives constantly, and has still
long to live, under water, are descried the
wings of a fly, which two years afterwards is
to mount into the air. Is there nothing in
this analogy ? It serves at least to show, that,
even in the observable course of nature, organi-

100 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

zations are formed one beneath another ; and,
amongst a thousand other instances, it shows
completely, that the Deity can mold and
fashion the parts of material nature, so as to
fulfil any purpose whatever which he pleased
to appoint.

They who refer the operations of mind to
a substance totally and efsentially different
from matter, (as most certainly these opera-
tions, though affected by material causes, hold
very little affinity to any properties of matter
with which we are acquainted,) adopt, per-
haps a juster reasoning and a better philosophy^
and by these the considerations above suggest-
ed are not wanted, at least in the same degree.
But to such as find, which some persons do
find, an insuperable difficulty in shaking off
an adherence to those analogies, which the
corporeal world is continually suggesting to
their thoughts ; to such, I say, every con-
sideration will be a relief, which manifests
the extent of that intelligent power which
is acting in nature, the fruitfulnefs of its
resources, the variety, and aptnefs, and succefs
of its means; most especially every con-
sideration, which tends to show, that, in the
translation of a conscious existence, there is

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. lOJ.

not, even in their own way of regarding it,
any thing greatly beyond, or totally unlike,
what takes place in such parts (probably small
parts) of the order of nature, as are accefsible
to our observation.

Again ; if there be those who think, that
the contractednefs and debility of the human
faculties in our present state, seem ill to
accord with the high destinies v/hich the
expectations of religion point out to us, I
would only ask them, whether any one, who
saw a child two hours after its birth, could
suppose that it would ever come to under-
stand 7?zmo7/i-* ; or who then shall say, what
further amplification of intellectual powers,
what accefsion of knowledge, what advance
and improvement, the rational faculty, be its
constitution what it will, may not admit of,
when placed amidst new objects, and en-
dowed with a sensorium, adapted, as it un-
doubtedly will be, and as our present senses
are, to the perception of those substances, and
of those properties of things, with which our
concern may lie.

* See Search's Light of Nature, pafsiin.

Vohnnc VI. II

102 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

Upon the whole ; in every thing which
respects this awful, but, as we trust, glorious
change, we have a wise and powerful Being,
(the Author, in nature, of infinitely various
expedients for infinitely various ends,) upon
whom to rely for the choice and appointment
of means, adequate to the execution of any
plan which his goodnefs or his justice may
have formed, for the moral and accountable
part of his terrestrial creation. That great
office rests with Him : be it ours to hope
and to prepare, under a firm and settled
persuasion, that, living and dying, we are
his ; that life is pafsed in his constant pre-
sence ; that death resigns us to his merciful
disposal.

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. l03

ESSAY IV.

On Extreme-Branch Grafting.

From much conversation with Mr. Bucknall
on the idea of improving standard fruit-trees,
i could not but remark that in apple orchards,
even in such as are most valuable, some were
to be seen that were stinted and barren, which
not only occasioned a lofs in the production,
but made a break in the rows, and spoiled
the beauty and uniformity of the plantation.

To bring these trees into an equal state of
bearing, size, and appearance, in a short time,
is an object of the greatest importance in the
system of orcharding, and also for the reco-
very of old barren trees, which are fallen into
decay, not so much from age, as from the
sorts of their fruits being of the worn-out and
deemed nearly lost varieties.

Having long entertained these thoughts,
and been by no means inattentive to the ac-
complishment of the design, 1 attempted to
change their fruits by a new mode of en-

K2

104 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

grafting, and am bold enough to afsert, that I
have most fortunately succeeded in my ex-
periments; working, if I am to be allowed
to say it, from the errors of other practitioners,
as also from those of my own habits.

Under these imprefsions, and having many
trees of this description, I made an expe-
riment on three of them in March, 1798, each
being nearly a hundred years old. They
were not decayed in their bodies, and but
little in their branches. Two of these were
golden pippins, and the other was a golden
rennet. Each likewise had been past a
bearing state for several years. I also fol-
lowed up the practice on many more the suc-
ceeding spring, and that of the last year, to
the number of forty at least, in my different
plantations*.

I directed the procefs to be conducted as
follows : Cut out all the spray wood, and
make the tree a perfect skeleton, leaving
all the healthy limbs ; then clean the branches,
and cut the top of each branch off where it
would measure in circumference from the
size of a shilling to about that of a crown
piece. Some of the branches must of course

The average expense I calculated at 2s. 6d each tree.

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 105

be taken ofF where it is a little larger, and
some smaller, to preserve the canopy or head
of the tree ; and it will be necefsary to take
out the branches which crofs others, and
observe the arms are left to fork off, so that
no considerable opening is to be perceived
when you stand under the tree, but that they
may represent an uniform head. I must here
remark to the practitioner, when he is prepar-
ing the tree as I directed, that he should leave
the branches sufficiently long to allow of
two or three inches to be taken off by the
saw, that all the splintered parts may be re-
moved.

The trees being thus prepared, put in one
or two grafts at the extremity of each branch j
and from this circumstance I wish to have the
method called Extreme-Branch Grafting.

A Cement, described at the end of this
Efsay, must be used instead of clay, and the
grafts tied with bafs or soft strings. As there
was a considerable quantity of mofs on the
bodies and branches of the trees, I ordered
my gardener to scrape it off, which is ef-
fectually done when they are in a wet state
by a stubbed birch broom , I then ordered
2 H 3

106 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

him to brush them over with coarse oil, which
invigorated the growth of the tree, acted as a
manure to the bark, and made it expand very
evidently ; the old cracks were soon, by this
operation, rendered invisible.

All wounds should be perfectly cleaned
out, and Mr. Bucknall's Medication applied
as described at the end of this Efsay. By the
beginning of July, the bandages were cut,
and the shoots from the grafts shortened, to
prevent them from blowing out. I must here,
too, obser\'e, that all the shoots or suckers
trora the tree must enjoy the full liberty of
growth, till the succeeding spring, when the
greater part must be taken out, and few but
the grafts sulfered to remain, except on a
branch Vvhere the grafts have not taken :
in that case, leave one or more of the
suckers, which will take a graft the second
year, and make good the deficiency. This
VvqS the whole of the procefs*.

By observing what is here stated, it will

* The system succeeds equally well on pear, a?; also
oo cherry trees, provided the medication is used to pre-
v-^.-.t tiic ciiTry tree from guirir,oing.

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 107

appear that the tree remains nearly as large
when the operation is finished, as it was be-
fore the businefs was undertaken ; and this is
a most efsential circumstance, as no part of
the former vegetation is lost, which is in
health fit to continue for forming the new
tree.

It is worthy of notice, that when the vivify-
ing rays of the sun have caused the sap to flow,
these grafts inducing the fluid through the
pores to every part of the tree, will occasion
innumerable suckers or scions to start through
the bark, which, together with the grafts, give
such energy to vegetation, that in the course
of the summer the tree will be actually covered
over by a thick foliage, which enforces and
quickens the due circulation of sap. These,
when combined, fully compel the roots to
work for the general benefit of the tree.

In these experiments I judged it proper to
make choice of grafts from the sorts of fruits
which were the most luxuriant in their growth,
or any new variety ; by which means a greater
vigour was excited : and if this observation
is attended to, the practitioner will clearly
perceive, from the first year's growth, that the

H4

108 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

o^rafts would soon starve the suckers which shoot

o

forth below them, if they were suffered to re-
main*. With a view to accomplish this grand
object of improvement, 1 gave much attention,
as I have before observed, to the general prac-
tice of invigorating old trees ; and I happily-
discovered the error of the common mode of
engrafting but a short distance from the trunk
or body. There the circumference of the
wounds is as large as to require several grafts,
which cannot firmly unite and clasp over the
stumps, and consequently these wounds lay a
foundation for after-decay. If that were not
the case, yet it so reduces the size of the tree,
that it could not recover its former state in
many years ; and it is dubious if it ever would :
whereas, b)' my method of extreme grafting,
the tree will be larger in three or four years,
than before the operation was performed. For
ail the large branches remaining, the tree has
nothing to make but fruit-bearing wood ; and
from the beautiful verdure it soon acquires,

* This thought should be kept in suspense, as ten years
hence it majt.appear otherwise. However, they will be
valuable trees, and highly profitable, as will any other
brought under the same system.

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 109

and the symmetry of the tree, no argument Is
necefsary to enforce the practice.

From trees engrafted upon my plan, I had
last season, about two bushels of the finest
fruit I had in my orchard, from each tree, and
from the third summer's wood only. Some
engrafted from Ribston pippins were beau-
tiful.

Mr. Bucknall visited me this summer for
the exprefs purpose of seeing my trees 5 and
he says the manner of conducting the system
is the happiest that ever was conceived. For
when a tree has done its best, and has con-
tinued to extreme old age, just disposed to fall
into difsolution, as also when this is the case
with trees in a stagnated and barren state,
they are thus renovated, and may, with the
greatest probability, continue valuable for
fifty years to come. I need not say, do not
make the attempt when the energy of growth
is over; that will easily be seen by the body
and arms, but more particularly from the size,
figure, shape, and colour of the leaves, which
give the proper indication of health or decay
in vegetation.

110 OEORGICAL ESSAYS.

Cement for Engrafting.

Take one pound of pitch, one pound of rosin, half
a pound of bees-wax, a quarter of a pound of hogs-
lard, and a quarter of a pound of turpentine ; to be
boiled up together, bat not to be used till you can
bear your finger in it.

Mr. BucknalVs Medication.

Take a quarter of an ounce of corrosive sublimate,
reduced to powder, by beating with a wooden
hammer, then put it into a three-pint earthen
pipkin with about a glafsfulof gin or other spirit;
stir it well together to difsolve the sublimate. Fill
the pipkin with common tar, and keep stirring
the mixture till it be intimately blended. This
quantity will be sufficient for two hundred trees.
To prevent danger, let the sublimate be mixed
with the tar as soon as pofsible after being pur-
chased, it being of a very poisonous nature, and
improper to be exposed. The medication to be
applied with a painter's brush.

i^. Jjr^. n/. /■/.

CEORGICAL ESSAYS. Ill

ESSAY V.

On the comparative advantages attending the PuV"
chase of Freehold and Leasehold Lands.

V ARious are the opinions respecting the
comparative advantage attending the pur-
chase of freehold and leasehold property. In
favour of the former, the natural, and indeed
laudable pride of man steps in, and decidedly
determines. Most men wish to pofsefs pro-
perty independent of all controul ; and the
suits and services exacted under many leases
are a relict of feudal tyranny, highly disgust-
ing to men fond ot freedom and independ-
ence ; but let us have recourse to figures
and we shall find that two men starting to-
gether with one thousand four hundred pounds
each, and purchasing, the one a freehold estate,
of iifty-six pounds per annum, at twenty-five
years purchase, and the other a leasehold for
three lives, of one hundred pounds per ann.
at fourteen years purchase, would be in very
different situations at the end of twenty-one
years. Calculating the interest of each at
five per cent, and allowing three renewals.

112

GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

at two years* purchase, (clear income,) the lease-s
holder^s estate, of one hundred pounds per annum
(nett) would, at the expiration of twenty-one years,
tost him 12051. iSs.; and the freeholder's estate,
of fifty-six pounds per annum (nett) would, at the
expiration of the same term, cost him 19001. Is.
as the following calculation will confirm :

Fkeehold, 561. per annum^ (nett) and 15 years purchase.

£ s.

1400 0
Add Interest 70 5 percent.

1470 0
Deduct rent 56 0

1414 0 Istyear
Add In. 70 14

1484 14
Deduct rent 56 0

] 428 1 4 2d year
Add Int. 7 1 9

1500 3
Deduct rent 60 0

1444 3 3d year
Add Int. 72 4

1516 7
Deduct rent 56 0

J 460 7 4lh yr.
Add Int. 73 0

J 533 7
Deduct rent 56 0

1477 7

Add Int.

cf s.

1477 7 5th yr.

73 17

1551 4.
Deduct rent 5« 0

1493 4 6th yr.
Add Int. 74 15

1569 19
Deduct rent 56 0

Add Int.

1513 19 7th yr.
75 14

1589 13
Deduct rent 56 0

1533 13 Sthyr.
Add Int. 76 14

1610) 7
Deduct rent 56 0

Add Int.

1554 7 9lhyr.
77 14

1632 1
Deduct rent 56 0

1576 0

J

GEORGICAL ESSAYS

113

S s.
1576 1 lOlhyr.
Add Int. 78 16

1654 17
Deduct rent 56 0

Add Int.

1598 17 llthyr.
79 19

1678 16
Deduct rent 56 0

1622 16 12th yr.
Add Int. 81 3

£ s.

17S7 3

Deduct rent 56 0

1731 3 16th yr.
Add Int. S6 1 1

1S17 14.
Deduct rent 56 0

Add Int.

1761 14 nthyr.

88 2

1849 16
Deduct rent 56 0

1703 19
Deduct rent 56 0

164-7 19 13th yr.
Add Int. 82 8

1730 7
Deduct rent 56 0

1793 16 18th yr.
Add Int. 89 14

1883 10
Deduct rent 56 0

1674 7 14lhyr.
Add Int. 83 14

1758 1
Deduct rent 56 0

1702 1 15th yr.
Add Int. 85 2

1787 3

1827 10 19Lhyr.
Add Int. 91 7

1918 17
Deduct rent 56 0

1862 17 20th yr.
Add Int. 93 4

1956 1
Deduct rent 56 0

£ 1900 1 21styr.

Freeholder's purchase of fifty-six pounds per annum, (nett,)
allowing five. per cent, compound interest, stands him at the

end of twenty-one years in £ ]900 1

Fi rst purchase 1 400 0

Lofs 500 1

114

GEOftGICAL ESSAYS.

Leasehold, \00L Jier amum (nett) and \K years fiwchaxt

£ s.

1400 0

Add Interest 70 0

1470 O
Deduct rent 100 0

Add Int.

1370 0 1st year
68 10

1438 10
Deduct rent 100 0

Add Int.

1338 10 2dyr.
66 19

1405 9
Deduct rent 100 0

Add Int.

1305 9
65 5

3d yr.

1370 14
Deduct rent 1 00 0

Add Int.

1270 14 4lh yr.
63 II

1334 5
Deduct rent lOU 0

Add Int.

1234 5
61 14

5th yr.

1295 ]9
Deduct rent 100 0

1195 19 etliyr.
Add Int. 59 16

1255 15
Deduct rent 100 0

\\55 \i

£ s.

1155 15 7tKyf.
Add renewal^
2 yrs. pure. > 200 0
nett rent, j

Add Int.

1355 15
61 16

1423 II
Deduct rent 100 0

Add Int.

1323 11 8th yr.
66 4

1389 15
Deduct rent 100 0

Add Int.

1289 15 9th yr.
64 10

1354 5
Deduct rent 100 0

1254 5 10th yr.
Add Int. 62 14

1316 19
Deduct rent 100 0

1216 19 llthyr.
Add Int. 60 17

1277 16
Deduct rent 100 0

1177 16 12th yr.
Add Int. 58 18

1236 14
Deduct rent 100 0

1136 14

£ s.
1136 14 I3th yr.
Add Int. 56 17

GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

£ s.

12tl 6

Deduct rent 100 0

115

1193 11
Deduct rent 100 0

1093 11 14th yr.
Add renewal 200 0

1141 6 18th yr.
Add Int. 57 1

1198 7
Deduct rent 100 0

Add Int.

1293 11
64 14

1358 5
Deduct rent 100 O

1258 5 15th yr.
Add Int. 62 18

1321 3
Deduct rent 100 0

1098 7 19th yr.
Add Int. 54 18

1153 5
Deduct rent 100 0

Add Int.

1053 5 20th yr.
52 13

Add Int.

1221 3 16th yr.
61 1

1282 4
Deduct rent 100 0

Add Int.

1182 4 17th yr.
59 2

1105 18
Deduct rent 100 0

1005 18 21styr.
Add another

renewal 200 0

1205 18

1241 6
Leaseholder's purchase of one hundred pounds per annum,
(nett) allowing five per cent, compound interest, stands him
at the end of twenty-one years (admitting three renewals at
two years purchase nett income) in the sum of £ 1205 IS
Profit 194 2

First purchase 1400 0

Freeholder's lofs at five per cent 500 1

Leaseholdor's profit at ditto 19+ 2

Difference 634 3

116 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

Since this calculation was made, the value
of freehold and leasehold lands have in-
creased, but that will not disturb the con-
clusion here drawn, as the purchases observe
their proportions.

N.B. A deduction should be made from
Leaseholder's profit, for lord's rent and heriots,
and something from Freeholder's lofs, for in-
creasing value of timber.

The great cause why leaseholds are held in
low estimation by the commonalty, arises
from the improvidence of the general holders,
who for the most part expend the whole
income of their estates, without laying by a
fund for the purpose of renewal; hence it
follows, that their estates fall into hand, and
the owners are often reduced from a state of
comparative affluence to beggary.

ri. ■ ,

INSERT FOLDOUT HERE

CEORGICAL ESSAYS. 117

ESSAY VI.

On the Mulberry-Tree.

Of the Mulberry there are six species, but
I shall only mention two, as they are the only
ones that can profitably be raised in this
country.

1. MoRUS (nigra) foliis cordatis scabris.
Linn. Sp. PI. 1 398. Mulberry with rough heart-
shaped leaves. The Black Mulberry.

a. A male catkin. b. The calix magnified.
c. A male flower, c. Ditto magnified, d. One
>;tanien magnified. ^. A female catkin, y. A female
flower. F. Ditto magnified, g. The calyx magnified.
H. The embryo, with its two stigmata, magnified.
I. The fruit, consisting of many berries, k. A single
berry. /. A seed. l. Ditto magnified.

This tree is remarkable for putting out its leaves
late, so that when they appear, the gardener may
take it for granted, that all danger from frosts is
over; he may then expose his green-house plants.
Cum gemiinare videris Moncm, injuriam postea/ri-
goris timere nolito. — PLi>:.

Volume VL I

118 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

Ovitl on account of its blood-red appearance,
has chosen the Mulberry tree for the scene of his
affecting story of Pyramus and Tliisbe ; and indeed,
no other tree could have given so much afsistance
to the imagination of the Poet. Horace advises us
to finish our dinners with ripe Mulberries:

Ille salubres

jEstates persget, qui nigris prandia Moris
Finiet, ante gravem qua; legerit arbore solem.

2. MoRus (alba) foliis oblique cordatis
IzEvibus. Linn. Sp. PI. 1398. Mulberry
uith oblique, smooth ^ heart-shaped leaves. The
White Mulberry.

The first, or Black Mulberry, is cultivated
for the delicacy of its fruit. It grows naturally
in Persia from whence it was brought to the
southern parts of Europe, and is now common
in all parts where the winters are not very
severe.

The second, or "White J^Iulberry, is only
raised for feeding silk-worms, in China, Italy,
and France ; but within these few years it is
raised in some parts of the Prufsian dominions
for the same purposes. Count Ilertzberg
informs the Board of Agriculture, that great

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 119

progrefs is made in the national silk of Prufsia,
in which kingdom there are upwards of one
thousand places succefsfully engaged in the
culture of silk. He seems to think that their
manufactures are likely to prosper, as those of
Lyons fall into decay. If silk can be so
readily obtained in Prufsia, there can be
no doubt of its succefsful cultivation in the
southern parts of this Island. The ditferent
operations required for making silk ready for
the loom, call forth little more addrefs than
the formation of a pin. As long as the
Mulberry-tree continues to thrive so luxu-
riantly with us, we must not desert the
thoughts of seeing silk manufactured in this
country from the eg^ to the loom.

Mr. Evelyn, in his chapter on the Alulberry
tree, is of opinion, that silk may be produced
in this country to a great national advantage,
provided, as he exprefses himself, " that the
" indigent and young daughters of proud
" families woald be as willing to gain three
" or four shillings a day for gathering silk,
" and busying themselves in this sweet and
" easy employment, as some do to get four-
" pence a day for hard work at hemp, flax,
*' and wool." From this it evidently appears
4 I 2

129 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

that Mr. Evelyn did not entertain a favourable
opinion of tlie mode of educating the young
women of fashion in his days. In his Mundus
MuUebris, a very scarce book, written pro-
fefsedly to contrast the times, he has drawn
a picture descriptive of the polite manners of
the year 1664. If it do not instruct, it will
at least amuse the fine ladies and gentlemen
of the present day.

" The refined lady expects her servants
snd humble admirers should court her in
the forms and decencies of making love in
fashion. In order to this you must often
treat her at the play, the park, and the
music ; present her at the raffle ; follow
her to Tunbridije at the season of drinkin^r
the waters, though you have no need of
them yocrself. You must improve all
occasions of celebrating her shape, and how-
well the mode becomes her, though it be
never so fantastical and ridiculous ; that she
sings like an angel ; dances like a goddefs ;
and that you are charmed with her wit and
beauty. Above all, you must be sure to find
some fault or imperfection in all other ladies
of the town, and to laugh at the fops like
yourself. With this a little practice will

GEORCICAL ESSAYS. 121

qualify you for the conversation and mystery
of the Ruelle ; and if the whole morning be
spent between the glafs and the comb, that
your peruke sit v;ell and cravat strings be
adjusted, as things of importance ; with these
and the like accomplishments you'll emerge a
consummate beau, Anglice, a coxcomb. But
the dancing-master will still be necefsary to
preserve your good mien, and lit you for the
winter ball. Thus you see, young sparks,
how the style and method of wooing is quite
changed, as well as the language, since the
days of our forefathers, (of unhappy memory,
simple and plain men as they were !) who
courted and chose their wives for their mo-
desty, frugality, keeping at home, good house-
wifery, and other economical virtues then in
reputation. And when the young damsels
were taught all these in the country, and their
parents' houses, the portion they brought was
more in virtue than money, and she was a
richer match than one vt ho could have brought
a million, and nothing else to commend her.
The presents which were made wh.cn all was
concluded, were a ring, a necklace of pearl,
and perhaps another fair jewel, the bona
paraphernalia of her prudent mother, whose
;iuptial kirtle gown and petticoat lasted as

13

122 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

many anniversaries as the happy couple lived
together, and were at last bequeathed with a
purse of old gold, rose nobles, spur-royals,
and spankers, as an heir-loom to her grand-
daughter. They had cupboards of ancient
useful plate, whole chests of damask for the
table, and store of fine Holland sheets (white
as the driven snow, and fragrant of rose and
lavender) for the bed, and the sturdy oaken
bed-stead and furniture of the house lasted
one whole centurv ; the shovel-board and
other long tables both in hall and parlour
were as fixed as the freehold ; nothing was
moveable save joint-stools, the black-jacks,
silver tankards, and bowls. And though
many things fell out between the cup and the
lip, when Nappy Ale, March Beer, Metheglin,
^lalmsev, and Old Sherrv got the ascendant
amongst the blue-coats and badges, they sung
Old Sijmon and Cheviot Chase, and danced
Brave Arthur, and were able to draw a bow
that made the proud Monsieur tremble at the
whizze of the grey-goose feather. 'Twas
then antient hospitality v>as kept up in town
and country, by which the tenants were ena-
bled to pay their landlords at punctual day ;
the poor were relieved bountifully ; and
charity was as warm as the kitchen, where

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 123

the fire was perpetual. In those happy days,
Siirefoot, the grave and steady mare, carried
the good knight and his courteous lady behind
him to church, and to visit the neighbourhood,
without so many hell carts, rattling coaches,
and crew of damme lacqueijSy which a grave
livery servant or two supplied, who rid before
and made way for his worship. Things of
use were natural, plain, and wholesome ;
nothing was superfluous ; nothing necefsary
wanting ; and men of estate studied the
public good, and gave example of true piety,
loyalty, justice, sobriety, charity, and the
good neighbourhood composed most dif-
ferences. Perjury, suborning witnefses, ali-
mony, avowed adulteries, and mifses (pub-
licly owned,) were prodigies in those days,
and laws were reason not craft, when men's
titles were secure, and they served their gene-
ration with honour j left their patrimonial
estates improved to an hopeful heir, who
pafsing from the free- school to the college,
and thence to the inns of court, acquainting
himself with a competent tincture of the laws
of his country, followed the example of his
worthy ancestors ^ and if he travelled abroad,
it was not to count steeples, and bring home
feather and ribbon, and the sins of other

14

124 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

rations, but to gain such experience as ren-
dered him useful to his prince and country
upon occasion, and confirmed him in the Jove
of both of them above any other. The
virgins and young ladies of that golden age
qmeskerunt lanum and linum ; put their hands
to the spindle, nor disdained they the needle \
w^ere obsequious and helpful to their parents ;
instructed in the managery of the family, and
gave presages of making excellent wives ;
nor then did they read so many romances,
see so many plays and smutty farces, set up
for visits, and have their days of audience
and idle pastime. Honest Gleiky Ruff and
Honours^ diverted the ladies at Christmas,
and they knew not so much as the names
of Ombre, Comet, and Bafset. Their re-
tirements were devout and religious books,
and their recreations in the distillatory, the
knowledge of plants and their virtues, for the
comfort of their poor neighbours, and use of
the family, which vvholesom.e plain diet and
kitchen physic preserved in perfect health.
In those days, the scurvy, spleen, &c. were
scarce heard of, till foreign drinks and mix-
tures were wantonly introduced. Nor were
the young gentlewomen so universally afflicted
with hysterical fits, nor, though extremely
modest, at all melancholy, or lefs gay, and ii^

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 125

good humour; they could touch the lute and
virginals, sing ^'^ Like to the damask rose i*
and their breath was as sweet as their voices.
They danced the Canarys^ Spanish Pava?i,
and Sillenger's Round upon sippets, with as
much grace and loyelinefs as any Isaac,
MonsieuTy or Italian of them all can teach
with his fopcall, and apish postures."

ESSAY VII.

On the Smut in Wheat.

vJF the smut there seems to be two kinds ;
the one comes out a little earlier than the
other, but both have the smut formed in what
I call the uterus, or folium vaginans, some
time before the ear makes its appearance.
The one, that is the most eaily, comes out
naked, the whole of its chaff being destroyed,
so that the dust is mostly carried oft by the
wind before the crop is harvested. This kind
is considered as the least destructive of the two.

126 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

as the infected ears can and may be removed
when spread upon the thrashing-floor. But I
am not quite certain whether the wind may not
be the means of conveying it to sound ears, at
that time hastening to maturityin the same field.
Tlie other kind of smut does not destroy the
chaff, so that the ear puts on a healthy ap-
pearance. The smut is contained in round
bags, composed of a dark green cuticle, from
which, when broken with the flail, the black
powder is discharged. This is more dan-
gerous than the other, as the smutty ears
cannot be distinguished from such as are
sound, even when placed upon the thrashing
floor. The smut is evidently a minute ve-
getable body of the order of fungi, and may
properly be considered as a parasitical plant ;
but how it comes, at so early a period, to take
pofsefsion of the infant germ, and to grow up
with it, is a matter hitherto unknovvn. It is
most certain that when this black powder is
rubbed upon sound grain, that the produce
will in general be smutty. I have sometimes
found sound ears to arise from an infected
root, and I have seen, though but seldom,
sound and smuttv grains in the same ear.

The whole of this part of natural history is

GEORGICAL ESSAYS 127

wrapt up in obscurity ; but it is a singular
liappinefs that the vegetative principle of
smut may be destroyed by certain steeps,
well known to the farmer. These seem to
operate in a twofold capacity, by destroying
the germination of the smut, and by allowing
the farmer to skim it off during the time of
brining. AVhen stale urine and lime are
alone used, it is plain that the cultivator has
no view beyond the destruction of the ve-
getative principle of the smut, a practice re-
commended by many judicious farmers in
preference to brining and steeping. But
when stale urine is used, care should be taken
not to permit it to remain too long upon the
grain. I have very respectable authority for
saying, that seed wheat, well washed in water,
is as effectually secured against smut as if it
had been subjected to the most approved
steep. The smut is certainly more prevalent
in some years than others, but this is in
common with many kinds of weeds, which
spring up more luxuriantly in some yeafs than
others.

128 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

ESSAY VIII.

0)1 Sunvner Fallowing.

1 HE present century was somewhat advanced
before the two great acquisitions of modern
husbandry, turnips and clover, were very
generally substituted in lieu of fallows upon
light land : until they were introduced, sand,
and the dryest loams, were summer fallowed
upon the very same principle, and nearly with
equal tillage as clays at present. This is
apparent through all the old writers on hus-
bandry*, from a variety of pafsages. And
this system was thought as necefsary upon
one soil as upon another. There are not
wanting writers who tell us, that this is the
case now.

But when those noble plants were well

* The practice of summer fallowing is not only very
ancient, but the three ploughings given are so also. In
the early age of Greece tills was the number. Horn.
Odyss. lib. 5. V. 127. Hesiod Theog. v. 971. Salvos. Plw,
Exercit. p. 509. Le Clerc Not. in Hesiod^ p. 264-. 266.

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 129

established, it was found that dry land was
tilled and managed much better by means of
turnips, which left only half a summer for
ploughing, than when the whole was employ-
ed in it ; and that clover upon both wet and
dry land had a similar, or even greater effect,
that left no time at all for ploughing. These
were facts that seemed to produce an entire
revolution in agriculture, not only in its prac-
tice but in its theory; for if as good, and
even better wheat was gained after clover,
that produced two large crops of liay ; or one
of hay and one of straw and seed to a much
greater weight and amount than any thing
that could be left in the ground in roots, &c.
it clearly proved that ploughing and turning
the soil to the atmosphere was not necefsary
either for the destruction of weeds, or for
enabling it to attract I know not what acids,
alkalies, oils, &c. with which the soil was
supposed to be thus impregnated, and pro-
portionably to the duration, the culture of
turnips proved the same thing.

In the same period the cultivation of some
other crops, called ameliorating ones, spread
very ffiuch ; such as pease and beans, and
tares or vetches. All these smothering crops.

130 GEORGIC-AL ESSAYS.

as well as clover, excluded the sun through
the whole summer, leaving no time tor fallow-
ing, vet the wheat or barlev sown after them
was as jTOod as that that usually succeeded
a fallow* ; and what is remarkable, proved
always good in proportion to the greatnefs
and thicknefs of such crops of pease, beans,
tares, and clover.

The good cultivation which was thus intro-
duced from Flanders, (where it had subsisted
several centuries,) was principally established
in the four eastern counties that lie against
the Flemish and Dutch coast, taking root
chiefiv on dry land, owing to turnips succeed-
inij well onlv on such soils. From these
counties it has gradually been creeping further
and further, and wherever it extends, clearly

* Even in parts of the kingdom where husbandry is
backwardest, many persons have found that smothering
crops prepare as well as any fallow: thus in Scotland
the Earl of Selkirk found that pease, cut in full bloom,
for hay upon clay land, was as good as a summer fallow.
Wigl^j Pres. St. Husi. vol. 3. p. 101. Dans noire pays,
says a Frer.th writer, (.n y seme du trefle qui fait
beaucuup de bien a la terre en la garantifsant de F^dcur du
soleil^ et en lui conservant la rosee et la pluie. Bomare
Diet, d* Hut. Nat. torn. 2. p. 438. art. Lin.

CEORGICAL ESSAYS. 131

proves that summer fallowing is not necefsary,
upon the principle of enabling the soil to
attract the vegetable food from the air.

But this practice, nor that principle, have
yet established themselves on soils too wet
for turnips, except in certain districts. In
Kent it took place very generally by means
of beans ; and in parts of Norfolk, Suffolk,
and Efsex, partially by the same plant. As
far however as clover is concerned, it has
become almost universal. The great question
at present that demands to be resolved, is the
application of this principle for the entire
banishment of fallows proper to be universally
extended to wet, as it has been to dry soils.

This question must be considered in relation
both to fact and reason*. In regard to the
first, which is what chiefly ought to govern
us, the point is decided as soon as named, for
a general practice which extends through a
part of Kent proves it. They have been for

* In China we are told that the land, whatever the
soil, never lies fallow. Ejihemeruks du C'ltoyen^ 1767,
torn. 11. p. 59.

1S2 GEORGICAL ESSAYS,

these fifty years in the habit of substituting
beans instead of fallows, and gaining as fine
crops of wheat after them as are to be seen
in any part of the kingdom. Ail their dung
is spread for beans, and they are drilled and
horse and hand-hoed to great perfection.
Smaller districts, in other counties, I have
seen, where beans have also been thus sub-
stituted with very great succefs. But in this
point I consider the practice of Mr. Arbuthnot
and his cleve, Mr. Chambers, during nine
years, as being yet more decisive than the
more general practice of wliole districts, and
for two reasons : First, their soil was ex-
ceedingly strong, wet, adhesive, and churlish,
as untoward land to manage wdthout a fallow
as ever was seen. Secondly, they adopted a
course of crops in which this husbandry was
more like to fail than in almost any other,
which was, 1st, Beans. 2d, Wheat. Sd, Clo-
ver. The last crop, when it returns often,
or when the soil is not kept perfectly clean,
is apt to foul land, and let the couch (triticum
repens) establish itself. Much, therefore, de-
pended on the beans answ^ering all the pur-
poses of a fa11ovv% not only in that respect, but
also in the wheat being put in so well as to
secure the clover-seed taking, which is a cri-

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 133

tical point where the management is not very
good. The result was, that their husbandry
succeeded to admiration, and was the best,
and their crops the largest that ever I saw on
land equally unfavourable. Their fields thus
managed were also in an almost garden degree
of cleannefs : insomuch that if ever there was
a fact established by practice, it was the per-
fect dependence that might be placed on
beans as a succedaneum for fallow. Fact
cannot be more decisive on this question than
it is.

Nor is it only with beans and clover that
this fact takes place. In almost every part of
the kingdom pease are used as a preparative
for wheat, provided the crops prove large.
I have seen innumerable instances of this
husbandry attended with the greatest succefs ;
but never if the pea crop is thin and poor :
whenever farmers are so ill-advised, or ava-
ricious, as to put in wheat after half a crop of
pease, they are as universally disappointed as
they are sure of a crop after a large one,
which seems to prove this doctrine beyond a
doubt. It is the same with tares.

But I have another observation to make
Vohwie VL K

134 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

much more uncommon, but which, I believe,
is equally true. It is, that the land which
has yielded a very great bulky crop of white
corn, when sown with any crop, will give a
greater product than a field managed ex-
actly in the same manner, but that yielded a
thin or poor crop. This is rcm.arkable 5 for
white corn is, beyond all dispute, an im-
poverisher ; and, consequently, the more there
grows of it, the more the land ought to be
exhausted. What, therefore, counteracts this
effect r Certainly the thick shade of a great
crop : which is so much the more clear,
because in those spots where it is laid, or
beaten down by the weather, there the land
is left in the finest order and the greatest
fertility. "Whoever will attentively observe
their crops with a view to this circumstance,
will be convinced of the fact, (to whatever
cause it may be attributed,) independent of
any richnefs arising from other causes, such as
dunging, 8zc.

But fact ought also to give us remarkable
instances of the benefit of extraordinary sum-
mer fallows, supposing them to be as effica-
cious as some would insist. Instances are,
however, to be produced to the contrary.

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 135

Mr. Crow, of Yorkshire, fallowed a piece of
strong land two years succcfsively for ex-
periment, and the result was a very poor crop,
from plaistering*. Much tillage, in such a
succefsion, cannot be given without a great
degree of pulverization, which, upon many
soils, never happens without being fatal. They
run together like wet mortar, and bake when
the sun shines. Dr. Walker, near Elgin, fal-
lowed for two years, ploughing fourteen or
fifteen times, and every crop after it was
badf.

Viewing an estate in Hertfordshire, I
brought away some specimens of the loams.
One of these was kept in a drawer seven years :
being then engaged in a course of trials on
the food of plants, I filled a pot with this
earth, and though for that period no sun, nor
even light, had come at it, yet the fertility of
it was very extraordinary ^ but the contrary
ought to have been the case, had summer fal-
lowing been necefsary to impregnate the soil
■with the riches of the atmosphere.

* Six Months' Tour, vol. 2. p. 226.
t Wight's Pres. State Husb. Scot. vol. 5, p. 89.
3 K2

l56 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

And now as to reason. A fallow has three
objects : ist, Killing weeds. 2d, Attracting
the vegetable food from the sun or air,
3d, Givrng sufficient friability. That the
bean culture will keep land clean, is a fact
that does not depend on the ingenuity of in-
dividuals— all Kent is a' proof of it : from
Dartford to Dover they are in what they call
the round tilth, that is, 1st, Barley. 2d, Beans.
Sd, "WHieat : thus two crops of white corn
come together, which is so far a bad course,
yet the land is clean, and every man that sees
their crops must allow their husbandry good.
This could not be in the nature of things, if
the beans did not admit operations sufficient
for the total destruction of weeds. This
point is so well established by practice, that
I never heard it disputed by men who had
seen a good bean culture. But all depends
on great use being made of the hoe. In
Kent they bestow from fifteen to twenty
shillings an acre in hoeing.

As to the second object of a fallow, that of
attracting the vegetable food :— I shall not in-
quire whetlier the food of plants resides in the
air — it is sufficient to show, that if it does, there
h nothing in clover, beans, pease, vetches, &c.

GEORGICAL ES5AYS. J37

that can prevent the soil acquirinoj that food'5
or, at least, if they do prevent it, they, at the
same time, furnish something else that makes
ample amends for the lofs, such as roots and
leaves to putrify. That this must be the case,
appears clearly from the wheat crops being
very generally better after clover than after a
fallow* J and also from their succeeding pro-
portionably to the smothering thicknefs of a
crop of pease. The thicker this crop is, the more
the air is excluded, yet the better is the wheat.
But is the air excluded in any of these cases ?
Certainly not : rain, dew, and air, penetrate
the crop, and reach the land, but exhalation
by the sun is prevented, which may be an ad-
vantage; but whether thj.s reasoning be right or
wrong, the fact remains; no man in his senses
has a great crop of pease without sowing wheat
on the land, though he will hesitat? if the
pease be small.

The last object of fallowing, that of giving

* The miserable crops gained sometimes by fallow on
good land, is a strong confirmation of the above reason-
ing. I was afsured, in the rich vale of Aylesbury, that
they had for some years no more than from 12 to 15
|}ushels an acre of wheat.

K3

138 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

friability, is likewise attained by these fallow-
crops. No repetition of ploughing will make
land more loose and friable than a great crop
of pease or tares ; let the plough enter imme-
diately after they are cleared, and a man is
surprised to see what order his land is in. It
is the same, to a proverb, with clover. If the
bean culture is good, it leaves time for three
earths, which is enough to remove all objec-
tions, did any remain. But the facts I have
already quoted prove this point also ; for suc-
cefs could never be found on strong lands
without friability given in some way or other.
To say, therefore, that great crops of wheat and
clover are gained after beans, is to say that
beans make strong land friable, otherwise
those products could not be gained.

It is thus that reason seems to justify the
conclusions, drawn from fact ; and, I trust,
that I am founded in having rejected the ne-
cefsity of fallowing. I consider it as a practice
that ought more to have given way when
clover and turnips, being generally established,
showed that there was no physical necefsity
for this mode of conducting arable land.
The idea, however, was generally accepted,
only en dry land, by means of turnips 5 be it

GEORGICAL ESSAYS 139

the businefs of the present age to extend it
the other step — and then our agriculture is
complete.

The most powerful theory that is brought
in aid of fallowing, is that of the land im-
bibing some igneous or other particles by be-
ing exposed to the immediate action of the
sun's rays *. Let it be considered, that if those
rays impart that corpuscular influence about
which so much was written in the last century;
they ought to be imparted much stronger in
very hot tropical climates, than in others that
are more northerly; the contrary, however,
is remarkably the case, for I have been afsured
by some very attentive gentlemen who have
resided in Jamaica, and whose businefs there
was agriculture, that exposing a soil for any
continuance of tillage to the influence ot a
burning sun, has, on long experience, been
found so pernicious that they avoid it se-
dulouslv. In the other islands also they ob-
serve the same thing. Martin, of Antigua,

* M. Beunie seems to be of this opinion. Efial
Chrmique dts terres^ in the Mem. de VAcad. des Sc.'e'i. df
BiuxclleSf torn. ii. p. iOi.

K4

140 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

a great advocate for fallowing, is sensible of
this circumstance, in mentioning the advantage
of fallowing by imbibing vegetative powers
whenever rain falls *. Another tells us the
land in the sugar islands should be covered
with cane trash to keep them from the vehe-
ment action of the sun, especially if dunged f.
Observations to a similar purpose have been
made in various other places. " It requires,"
says Kalm, speaking of the Pennsylvanian
husbandry, *' infinite time and labour to re-
cover exhausted fields, especially where they
are so scorched by the excefsive heat J." But
this circumstance of scorching ought rapidly
to recover a field instead of retarding it, were
the theory true which establishes the use of
summer fallows. And Bartram speaks of land
in East Florida, rich, because the sun never
shines on the ground, through the thick shade,
to exhale the virtue of the rotten leaves* We
are informed also, that in Sumatra, whose
equinoctial situation with the incefsant light-
nings it is subject to, should make one expect
that the sun's immediate action would prove

* Efsay on Plantership, p, 23.

t Art of Making Sugar, 4to. ' 1752, p. 5.

J Travels in North America, vol. 1. p. 186.

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 141

(if any where) salubrious : that the culture of
dry rice is all on the site of old woods, and
not on plains, for they do not afford vegetable
mould enough, being exhausted by the power-
ful operation of the sun's rays*. Nor will
they do for pepper, their long exposure to
the sun exhausing the source of their fer^
tiJityf.

Lord KaimsJ, consistently with the same
idea, observes, that the dew which falls on a
leguminous crop is shaded from the sun by
the broad leaves, and sinks at leisure into the
ground (|. And a Frenchman, otherwise ab-
surd enough, had sagacity tp find out that
fallows are uselefs, and even pernicious §.
Count Gyllenbprg, by very scientific deduc-
tions, offers some circumstances that have

* Marsden's History of Sumatra, p, 61.
f Ibid, p. 116.

I Journal up the River St. Juan, annexed to Stork's
Florida, p. 8.

II Gentleman Farmer, p. 127.

§ Reflections sur I'Etat actueldel'Agriculture, 12mo.
1780, p. 37, 8ic, 4

142 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

considerable weight in this inquir)- : mould
exposed to the solar heat loses, he says, its
oily pari cles*; and that in shady places it is
richer than where exposed to the sun j-. And
Neuman, equally on experiment, declares,
that heat draws the rich exhalations out of
the earth J.

Mr. Wight, in a correspondence on this
subject, observe?, that the richest woodlands
in Janiaica are exhausted in twelve years by
sugar il. This I attribute to the action of
clearing those weeds and letting the sim in.

A French writer observes, that land
ploughed too much loses all its salts § j but
this is in the teeth of most of his countr)'men,
who think fallow necefsary : one calls fallow
and dung for wheat, the base of agriculture**.

* Nat. and Chem. Elem. of Ag. p. 85.
f Ibid. p. 87.
% Ibid, p. 182.

II Pres. St. Husb. Scot. vol. p. 7 1 S.
^ Model. Recreat. Pbjs. j»r Parraentler, torn. 2,
p. 6i. Recherches sur les Vegetaux, p. 423, 432.
** Bomare Diet. d'Hist. Nat. torn. 1. 307.

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 143

These observations seem remarkably to ex-
clude these igneous particles ; but neither
these nor reason seem at all to combat the
idea of particles of this sort which plants take
in, in moisture, rain, and dew, being richly-
impregnated with bodies salutary to vegeta-
tion, and which the atmosphere abounds with ;
and are a more likely way of conveying them
to the roots than any other.

Notwithstanding I have been so sedulous to
reject both the theory and practice of sum-
mer fallowing, I am ready enough to admit
that there may be cases on clay in which a
farmer might find it advantageous. Newly
entering ]and that is filled with weed,;R by a
long succefsion of bad management, he may
not be strong enough to put beans into all the
land that want cleaning. When a field is
intended for grafs, that is so weedy that one
crop of beans may not be enough to clean it,
without an extreme of attention that cannot
be given, in these, and in some other cases,
pofsibly a complete summer fallow may be
advisable; when it is so, the following hints
for the management of it may have their use.

All strong soils that run into a mafs of mud

J44 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

with rain, and bake, with a hot sun, should,
in fallowing, never be ploughed or harrowed
fine until the heat of the summer is over j and
at any season the harrow may as well be kept
off, unlefs in the burning season to tumble
clods about without breaking them.

An autumnal ploughing, followed by
another in a very dry season, in May, or early
in June, according to the weather, and left in
as rough a way as pofsible by a crofs plough-
ing, just before harvest, is all it should have.
These clods* will roast in the sun, and root
weeds of all sorts will be greatly checked,
and many of them killed. Whereas if more
tillage was to break the soil much, not one
root in many would be destroyed. Mr.
Arbuthnot, in the very little fallowing with
which he brought his clay lands into order,
pursued this plan with great succefs ; towards
the time of the tillage to be given for wheat
he chose a burning season to crush the clods
with his spike roller ; but the Norfolk heavy
drill roller answers the purpose far better.

• Mr. Robertson, of Scotland, on his coarse clay,
keeps his fallows as full of clods as pofsible. IVighi's
Pres. St. Husk, Scot. vol. 2. p. 105.

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 145

ESSAY IX.
On Farm-Yard Management.

JMY management differs, in some respects,
from the common practice, though I think
since I have been a farmer every occupier of
land is becoming more active, and more in-
dustrious in collecting materials for manure ;
and almost every one has some little system
of his own to go by in this part of his busi-
nefs : mine is as follows. During the whole
course of the summer I gather into stacks all
the weeds and rushes I can meet with, and
bed my yard at any leisure time with good
mould from a neighbouring common, a foot
and a half, or two feet thick. After harvest I
get from this common as many loads of fern
as I can, usually eight or ten, and spread it
over the earth, into which my cattle gene-
rally tread it pretty well before they come to
be stationary in the yard for the winter. I
likewise mow all my wheat stubbles, which
I always leave very high, principally because
we are not allowed to sell wheat-straw 5 and.

146 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

indeed, if we were, we have no market for it
near enough to make the sale an object. This
stubble I make into regular ricks, and slightly
thatch them. AVhen the season calls the cat-
tle into the yard, I immediately tie up my ten
dairy cows, and only let them out about half
an hour, night and morning, to drink at the
pond, which is at one corner of it ; this yard
is appropriated to my cows, and in bad wea-
ther to my sheep. I feed the cows with sliced
turnips, and barley or oat-straw cut into chaff.
I have one of Cooke's cutters, which does
this businefs excellently. I bed their stalls
with plenty of stubble every night, and clean
them out as regularly as my stables, and pile
the dung about six feet from the door of the
sheds. With this sort of care, and warmth,
and food^ my cows look sleek and well all
winter. As soon as they calve, with the
sliced turnips I give good hay and wheat-
straw, half and half, cut into chaff, and when
turned to pasture in the spring they look as
well as most other peoples* do after they have
been at grafs six weeks. I also buy in, in
the middle of November, ten or a dozen
Welch runts, that will fat to about seven or
eight and twenty score. They are so un-
handy and rude, that I have given up at-

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 147

tempting tying them, and feed them in
covered mangers in a small warm yard, with
sliced turnips and chaff, half hay and half any
sort of straw, and litter round their mangers
plentifully with stubble, and have the dun"-
thrown into heaps once a week. These oxen
go off the latter end of April and beginnin*^
of May, and pay about four pounds a-head for
twenty weeks keep. I always store up ten or
fifteen waggon loads of turnips against bad
weather, and if my stock of them fails from
any cause, I am never without potatoes to
supply the defect, so that I contrive by these
means, and taking care not to overstock, to
get through the backwardest spring without
the difficulty and distrefs and real lofs I have,
in the course of my life, observed many people
suffer. I never rear any young cattle, having
no good means of summering them. I never
give hay or straw uncut to any cattle s and hy
this management I have not the smallest
doubt but I keep, I mean winter, twice as
many beasts as I could in the common man-
ner of treatment, and get together likewise
an immense quantity of uncommon strong
manure; so strong, that I rarely put more
than six three horse dung-pot loads upon an
acre for pease, beans, tares, or turnips, which

148 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

are the four crops I generally dung for. When
the weather becomes very severe, I drive my
whole flock of ewes, between 17 and 18 score,
into the cow-yard, which is dry and warm,
about three o'clock in the afternoon, and give
them hay and straw chaff in troughs: they
fill their bellies heartily, and lie comfortable
and snug. In the morning I turn them into
the turnip field, to eat up clean those that
are drawn, and in the evening they return to
the yard, which they are always eager to do.
The latter end of February, when they begin
to lamb down, I divide my yard by flakes,
and keep the forward and backward ewes
apart, and by this care, and warmth, have
usually good luck. I then add to their chafF
potatoes, or turnips, crushed in a cyder milJ,
and they keep gaining, notwithstanding the
pull of their lambs, till they are turned into
the water-meadows the middle of March.

My horses are, winter and summer, in the
stable, in which there are no racks, as like
the other cattle, all their food, equal hay and
straw, is cut into chatF, and they have the
same allowance of oats winter and summer,
namely, one bushel each per week, and are
always in good working order — rather sleeker

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 149

and fatter to be sure with the lucern in sum-
mer. By these various means I collect a very-
large quantity of rich manure, and keep all my
stock in good heart and looks. I carry the
dung immediately from the yards to the fields j
and though it is not so rotten as many people
like, I have reason to know, from experience,
that my mode answers well.

ESSAY X.

On the Mixture of Agriculture and Manufactures,

OoME think that the mixture of agriculture
and manufactures ought not to be recommend-
ed, being of opinion, that the two employ-
ments must be carried on to greater perfection
when divided, than they can pofsibly be by
one person. But while in one view this
opinion is well founded, in others it certainly
is not. A manufacturer would, no doubt, be
unfit to manage a large farm; but it does not
appear how in any v/ay he could be hurt by
Volume VL L

150 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

having the charge of a garden, or even of an
acre or two ; which would commonly be all
kept in grafs for his cow, excepting such parts
of it as he might wish to work with the spade
for the production of potatoes, and other
articles usually obtained from gardens. Even
this occasional occupation with the spade,
however, would, in the opinion of many, prove
injurious to manufacturers, from their being
afraid that it would occupy time which other-
wise might be employed with more benefit to
himself and to the public. But men who
argue in this manner, build their opinion on
speculation, and not on practice and observa-
tion. They do not consider the nature of
man, who must have some variety in his
pursuits, otherwise he will be unhappy ; and
we all know how unproductive that labour
must be, while those by whom it is carried
on are discontented, or not satisfied with their
situation. It appears, indeed, to be unreason-
able, to insist on a weaver spending every
moment of his time at his loom, or a smith at
his anvil : accordingly it is seldom or never
done ; for this clafs of men, when deprived of
the more rational occupation of working and
taking charge of a small portion of ground,
for the benefit of their families, seldom fail to

CEORGICAL ESSAYS. 151

spend a considerable part of their time in the
ale-house, and not more than a few days of
every week, at their work. Whereas, it is
almost every where remarked, that this seldom
happens with any of those manufacturers who
have not hitherto been collected together, but
working separately, and often at a distance
from each other, frequently pofsefs an acre or
two of ground, in the management of which
they not only derive amusement and happinefs,
but they and their children, while employed
in this manner, become more robust and
healthy, and imbibe much more virtuous prin-
ciples than are commonly met with among
those manufacturers who do not enjoy this
advantage.

The influence of this is very remarkable in
the difference which, in these circumstances,
takes place between cotton manufacturers
who, in general, are collected together in
great numbers, often to the extent of more
than a thousand, and those who carry on the
manufacture of our national broad-cloth.
These last, almost every where work sepa-
rately and unconnected with each other, and
employ all the hours which they devote to
relaxation and amusement, in the care of

I '^

152 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

their gardens^ and other small portions of
ground that they pofsefs ; to which they
and their families become commonly so much
attached, that they have been known to re-
main in them, small as their pofsefsions com-
monly are, for many {generations. Nor does
this variety of occupation make them worse
tradesmen, or hiduce them to work lefs, as
some speculative men have supposed it would
do, while, in various ways, it tends to make
them more virtuous citizens. These manu-
facturers are every where noted for their in-
dustry, and for the quantity of cloth which
they produce ; and we all know that the
article itself, which has long been considered
as the staple comm.odity of our country, is
the best of its kind that any where can be
met with.

Some manufacturers necefsarily require the
united labours of many workmen ; but this is
not frequent ; nor do we know of any that
absolutely require such numbers to be em-
ployed in one body as to prevent the pofsibility
of their being all supplied with small portions
of ground. It may be for the interest of a
few large money-proprietors, to collect manu-
facturers in great numbers together, and thus

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 153

to enjoy the profits of their accumulated labour j
but this being highly detrimental both to the
morals and health of those whom they employ,
and being thereby injurious to the whole
nation, it is surely full time that to the very
extensive length to which undertakings of this
kind are frequently carried, some check pr
regulation should be applied.

The most desirable, and, perhaps, the most
effectual mode of doing this, would be for
the Board of Agriculture, when pofsefsed of
powers and funds suflicient for the purpose,
to establish and support a plan for giving to
every manufacturer, in all districts that admit
of it, one, two, or more acres of ground, ac-
cording to the richnefs of the soil, and other
circumstances of his situation. The desire
which universally prevails among the lower
clafses of people for this kind of pofsefsion,
being every where great, were a plan of this
kind to take place, a great proportion of
manufacturers who are now collected in large
bodies would separate, and become more in-
dustrious, more useful, and better members of
society, than they are ever likely to be while
their present mode of life is pursued.

o T f>

w J -I O

154 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

In various ways, a scheme of this kind
■would prove useful both to farmers and pro-
prietors of land, as well as to manufacturers
and the public. If unimproved grounds were,
in general, allotted for this purpose, of which
almost every farm in the kingdom contains a
proportion, a very considerable quantity, to
the extent of some millions of acres, that are
now almost altogether unproductive, might
thus be quickly improved to the highest degree
of cultivation, and at a little or no expense ;
for small portions of land, pofsefsed in this
manner by individuals, are managed w^ith no
other expenditure of time, the chief article of
expense, it may be remarked, with which ail
agricultural improvements are attended, than
of that vfhich otherwise would be spent in
idlenefs. The very highest rents would be
cheerfully given for ground occupied in this
manner ; and by a great proportion of manu-
facturers being disposed over the kingdom,
their wives and children would, in busy sea-
sons, prove an useful and important addition
to the numbers usually employed in farming
operations. 4

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 155

ESSAY XL

A Political Renovation addrefsed to the year 1812.

Iho^gh much exertion is, at this present
time, used by all ranks of people to rescue us
from the cruel fangs of a rapacious invader,
yet all will but little avail till our national
debt be made lighter. To accomplish this
desirable end, much self-denial will be re-
quired, even to an extermination of all our
levities and luxuries. I wish to begin our re-
novation by sending all our plate, both public
and private, to the mint, to be converted, as
speedily as pofsible, into money, in order to fill
the nation with circulating cash; after which,
let every person pofsefsing property, faithfully
give a large portion of it at stated payments
(suppose one-sixth of all that he is worth)
towards the lefsening or liquidation of our
national debt. Such a scheme, however
Utopian it may appear, seems to be the only-
one capable of renovating this nation ; but to

L 4

155 .GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

effect it, our mamiers and opinions must in-
stuntiy undergo a wonderful change. To be-
gin, let the strictest morality be practised
where it is preached 3 and in order to preserve
the utmost harmony between the ministers of
the gospel and tHeir flock, let all tithes be
abolished, giving to the minister and lay impro-
prietor, such a fair and equitable compensa-
tion as the wisdom of parliament may think
proper. To this the clergy ought to have
no objection, as by my scheme they will be
enabled to bring up and maintain their fami-
lies at lefs than half their present expense. I
consider this as a sine qua non, and should be
the first act of a nation that is rising from its
ashes. To begin this great work of national
reformation, let all public places of amuse-
ment and expense be shut up by general con-
sent, for I argue against all compulsion, trust-
ing that an universal and warm return to vir-
tuous patriotism will do it. Let us reduce
ourselves, for some years, to live upon the
humble fare, that is tlie produce of our own
lands. When so far advanced, the whole
order of things will be changed, and we shall
no longer be the men we now are. I mean
us to be reduced to three clafses, husbandmen,
fishermen, and manufacturers, and let no man

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 167

be idle. Let the superfluous product of our
lands, (for then there would be a superfluity)
together with our manufactured goods, be
exported, and the returns, for ^ limited time,
only accepted in coin, bullion, or raw ma-
terials, for the use of the manufacturer. The
produce of our Colonies to be scantily con-
sumed at home, and the surplus to be sent
abroad. Under such a system of national
frugality, our corn and manufactured goods
may be made to fill the foreign markets at a
price that would supersede all competition.
Let us keep up a powerful fleet to protect
our trade, and secure to us the dominion of
the seas ; and let a sufficient military force be
maintained to support magistracy and over-
awe all disturbers of the public peace ; these
I trust, will be few in number; for it is burden-
some taxes that occasion popular discontents.
To this Spartan advice, a million of objections
may be raised, but I dare venture to say, that
nothing short of such a sacrifice can save this
nation, surrounded as we are by an abandoned
race of men, who are upon the watch to place
us in a situation ten times more grievous than
what my proposals would occasion. After
all, will not my sumptuary plan by making
us rich, be in the end productive of the same

158 GEORGICAL ESSAYS

mischief that I am now endeavouring to re-
move ? It certainly would ; but then we must
have recourse to the same internal means to
remove it, and not suffer it to be done by
others ; which will afsuredly be the case if
we do not do it ourselves. For want of fol-
lowing a plan similar to this, all the great
empires fell ; but, by my scheme, a nation is
incapable of destruction, having within itself
a power something like the seasons of the
year. A. sharp winter checks the prodigality
of summer, and secures to the best parts of
the world an annual renovation, which, un-
der such circumstances, 1 expect will continue
for a period beyond all calculation. From
the vegetable, let the animal world take aq
instructive lefson.

Some of the wisest men in this kingdom
seem to entertain an opinion, that we should
be more happy in the character of shepherds
and husbandmen, renouncing all colonial in-
tercourse. But to the latter part of the
opinion, I have a powerful objection, as it
would be the means of destroying our navy,
which I consider as the only power, under
Providence, capable of protecting a nation of
peasantry and manufacturers against the in-

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 159

suits of foreign powers. Let me not be viewed
as one desirous of levelling all distinctions of
men. I revere the glorious fabric of our con-
stitution, and lay my finger only on our man-
ners. A peer may superintend his farm, and
still be a peer. The seeds of what I desire
are already planted in the heart of our Sove-
reign, and nothing is wanting to accomplish
this glorious change but a willingnefs on the
part of his subjects. The greatest and wisest
of the Romans did not disdain with their owii
hands to cultivate their fields ; these, we
know, were the happiest days for Rome, and
that they may be so for Britain, let all the
people say Amen.

160 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

ESSAY xir.

EvperimeiUs and concise Agricultural Obsoxations,

1. A Cauiion to Young Farmers*.

X HE young farmer ought to be extremely-
cautious how he adopts the advice of such
farmers as may have been bred in districts at
a great distance from his own, as he may ruin
liimself (particularly in stock) by pursuing
practices unsuitable to his lands and climate.
The hints of the sensible men in his own
neighbourhood, ought to be listened to with
attention ; but an observing eye, and an un-
remitting attention to such facts as may occur
to himself, are the only sure guides to conduct
him through the labyrinths of his profefsion.
As to chymistri% it is certainly useful to those
who rank in the higher order of agricalturists,
but the young farmer ought to avoid its fasci-
nation, as it will only ser\'e to make him a
pedant in farming.

^ By A. Hunter, xM. D.

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 161

2. OnSoilijig*.
In this place I introduce soiling merely as
a means of raising dung, in which respect too
much cannot be said in praise of it. It con-
sists in confining horses, oxen, cows, and
young cattle to stables or yards well littered,
and giving them winter and summer tares,
lucern, clover, rye-grafs, sainfoin, or common
grafs, mown fresh every day, in racks, or cribs.
The yards or pens should for this purpose be
prepared ; and if they are not covered with
the dung of the preceding winter's foddering,
they should be covered well with earth or
marl, and littered upon. All sorts of cattle
thus fed, make so much urine, that the stratum
of marl or earth is indispensable, and should
be laid thick. Lucern being a perennial
plant, and bearing many cuttings, answers
particularly well for this management in all
places where the land is suitable.

3. On~Night Soilf.
Here I shall only consider the farmer's con-
duct at his own home, where his great object
is to raise as much manure as pofsible, with-

By Mr, Henry Jones. f B/ A. Hunter, M. D.

162 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

out being obliged to depend on purchases,
which are only to be made in certain situations.
If the farmer manages his necefsary-house in
such a manner as to suffer nothing to run
from it, and frequently throws weeds, the refuse
of the garden, saw-dust, ashes, or any kind of
earth into it, he may, from a moderate family,
every year, manure from one to two acres of
land. It is a great neglect in most farmers
to suffer much of this to be wasted, by allowing
the chamber-pots to be emptied any where
but where they ought. These things may
appear to be trifles, but in a large family they
are by no means such. Kempher, in his
History of Japan, tells us, that the Japanese
erect houses of ofiice in all their highways,
for the benefit of obtaining this kind of
manure ; and it would be a good speculation
for the farmer to imitate this practice in all the
manufacturing towns of this kingdom. It will
not be going much astray from the present
subject, to lay it down as a maxim, that all
animal substances whatever, make admirable
manures, much better than any thing in the
vegetable or fofsil kingdoms ; and this should
not only direct the young farmer in the pur-
chase of his manures, but also occasion him to
be attentive to the waste of such substances

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 163

in his own house and farm ; for all such sub-
stances, the compost dunghill should be the
general repository. To the disgrace of this
branch of agriculture, how often do we ob-
serve the carcases of dead sheep, horses,
dogs, &c. lying exposed in the highways, in-
stead of being carefully cut up and conveyed
to the compost dunghill. A common snail
may be the means of adding six ears of corn
to the general granary, and under this spe-
culative idea, how much may be expected
from the carcafs of a dead horse, or a sheep.

4. On Compost*.

Farms that have an easy accefs to lime and
peat-mofs, can always have plenty of manure.
By compounding these in proper proportions,
and adding, at a proper time, a certain quan-
tity of dung, excellent manure may be formed :
the effect of the lime and the dung being to
perfect the putrefaction of the vegetable sub-
stances, of which the mofs is composed.

The lime and mofs ought to be in the pro-
portion of one cart-load of the former to five

By John Thompson, D. D.

164 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

of the latter, and the dung one-fourth of the
original compound. When the lime and
mofs are mixed, the mofs ought to be tolerably
dry, and the lime newly slaked and hot. This
mixture, after it has lain three or four months,
should be turned over j and in five or six
months after, turned a second time. At this
second turning, the dung ought to be added.
After having received the dung', the heap
should not be above three weeks before it be
laid upon the land In some cases, the
natural qualities of the composition may re-
quire it to be thrice turned, and to be twelve
months before it be used. Thirty cubical
yards of this composition, per acre, will be a
sufficient drefsing for turnips, and forty for
wheat. It may here he observed, that the
above compost is formed upon the simplest prin-
dpki but according to circumstances it may be
made subject to variations, such as the addition
o/fenty rushes loith their roots, and leaves of all
kinds, upon all which, the hot lime zvill act
with caustic vigour.

5. A humane and meritorious yneihodof extending the
breed of pigs*,

I LEND to the wives of those who rent small
■* Bv William Walcot, jun. Esq.

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 165

cottages of me, as also to the wives of the
labourers about me, to each of them a well-
grown sow pig, the value of alT the produce
from which is to be considered as entirely
their own, and to be laid out in frippery or
necefsaries for the family as they may think
fit ; and when the sows have, under the care
of these women, produced two htters of pigs,
I relinquish all right to them, arid they be-
come the property of the women, who may,
if they please, sell them and their last produce
of pigs together. By this measure, I hope to
counteract the very mischievous practices of
the jobbers or dealers in hogs, who, for the
cxprefs purpose of keeping them scarce and
dear, get into their hands all the sows they
can purchase, and take every means to prevent
their propagation : And for thist the reason
is obvious, as every man (of that description at
least) is actuated by his individual interest :
thus, suppose a person in that businefs to cm-
ploy a capital of 200 1. it is obviously his in-
terest that it should be vested in one hundred
rather than in two hundred hogs, as the provi-
sion for one hundred would be saved to him,
besides considerable trouble and various ex-
penses attending them.

Vobime VI. ^I

166 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

6. Onthe EfsexHoe*.

The Efsex hoes are strong and mafsy. The
wheat hoe is 6\ inches long, and 3 inches
broad; the edge stands about 6 inches from
the handle. The bean hoe is 61- inches long,
and 4y broad, and stands out in the same man-
ner. The hoe is made very thick, heavy in
the eye, and for a considerable way down.
Hence the very weight of the instrument fal-
ling upon the weeds has more effect than the
common hoes with the common strength ap-
plied to them.

Another very important circumstance to be
observed is, that the labourers are never suf-
fered to use this instrument in any other state
than when properly sharpened or ground, for
which purpose most of the farmers have a
grind-stone fixed on their premises. By these
means the hoeing in Efsex is certainly effected
in a most superior manner, as the land is not
only kept clean from weeds, but is stirred
such a depth that is nearly equal to a slight
ploughing:

_ • By A. Young, Esq.

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 167

7. On Hoeing and Weedijig in the County of Ejsex *.

There is no part of husbandry more to be
admired than the attention paid by the farmers
to the keeping their land clean. The ex-
pense of hoeing wheat differs much. In some
soils it costs from 4s. to 5 s. per acre, and in
others 7 s. Wheat is sometimes twice hoed,
and they hand-hoe even broadcast wheat, a
practice quite unknown in many other places,
though extremely beneficial. Hoeing wheat-
is found of the greatest use, in cutting up
noxious weeds, in loosening the surface of the
soil, in giving fresh vigour to the roots, and in
earthing up the plants. In general, beans
are hoed three times, at an expense of 4 s. 8 d.
each time, and sometimes just before har-
vest they are again looked over by the day,
or should the season prove so wet that they
cannot well be cleaned before harvest, the
stubble is then clean hand-hoed, and the
weeds, &c. cleaned away before the wheat is
is sown. By this THode, though expensive,
the land is left as clean for the reception of
the wheat, as if it were a well-made fallow,
particularly after being hoed as above de-
scribed.

• By a. Young, Esq.

M2

168 ^EORGICAL ESSAYS.

8. On the Management of Head- Lands*.

It is well known that the head-land, and
that piece of land lying between the head-
land and the hedge, is generally lighter than
the rest of the field, in consequence of the
soil collected by the plough being scraped oiF
and there left at every turning. A great deal
of excellent soil is thus unnecefsarily acccu-
mulated, the height of which prevents the
water from getting off into the ditch. Intelli-
gent farmers are led to dig up this piece of
land in the winter, or early in the spring, and
as soon as the. land has become dry, and the
farmer has leisure, the manure is carted from
the stable and yards and laid upon it. The
soil and manure being well incorporated, it
becomes a rich and cheap compost. At the
same time, the moisture which comes from the
dung, necefsarily makes the head-land as good,
or better, than any other part of the field. By
this mode, brambles, nettles, docks, and other
destructive weeds, which are apt to spread a
considerable distance from the hedge, are
neatly and correctly eradicated.

By A. Hunter, M. D.

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 169

9. The Marks of a good Cow *.
These are the marks of a good cow: wide
horns, a thin head and neck, dewlap large,
full breast, broad back, large deep belly ; the
udder capacious, but not too fleshy; the milk
veins prominent, and the bag tending far be-
hind ; teats long and large, buttocks broad
and fleshy, tail long and pliable, legs propor-
tionable to the size of the carcase, and the
joints short. To these outward marks may be
added a gentle disposition, a temper free from
vicious tricks, and perfectly manageable on
every occasion. On the other hand, a cow
with a thick head and short neck^ prominent
back bone, slender chested, belly tucked up,
small udder or a fleshy bag, short teats, and
thin buttocked, is to be avoided as totally un-
fit for the purposes either of the dairyman,
the suckler, or the grazier.

10. OaMilkf.

It may in general be remarked, that the
milk which comes first from the cow when
milked is much more strongly impregnated

* By Mr. Bannister.

f By James Anderson, LL. D.

M S

170 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

with any peculiar flavour than what comes
last J and as that is the thinnest and least va-
luable part of the milk, it may be taken away
and applied to any inferior domestic use,
without diminishing, in any sensible degree,
the products of the dairy.

By thus separating the first from the last
drawn milk, the quality of the butter will
at all times, be much improved, and the
quantity hardly diminished in any sensible
degree. For I have found, by experiment,
that a small quantity of milk, which comes the
last from the cow, contains about sixteen times
more cream than an equal quantity that comes
the first at once milking, and that the cream
is also of a much richer quality j the colour
of the one being of a deep orange, while that
of the other is as white as paper.

Hence we may infer, by way of corollary,
that no method of rearing calves can be so
beneficial for a dairy, as that usually practised
in the Highlands of Scotland, where it is the
universal custom to allow the calf to suck its
mother for some time, and to drive it away,
and milk what remains in the cows udden
By this means, the expense of milking is much

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 171

abridged— the calves are suckled more kindly
than by the hand — and the quantity of butter
not much diminished : But the greatest ad-
vantage is, that the butter is thus rendered of
the finest quality that could pofsibly be de-
sired. It has, indeed, been often remarked,
that w^ell-made Highland butter is of the
finest quality that can any where be found -,
but this circumstance, which contributes so
much to its perfection, has, I believe, been
over-looked.- — It is commonly imagined, that
the butter which is of the deepest yellow
colour, is also the richest in taste : And
although it seems probable that this may be
in general the case, and that many of the
plants that answer the one of these intentions
may answer the other purpose also, yet it is
by no means certain that these are not some-
times disjoined. For I have often met with
butter of a very rich flavour, with little colour,
and the reverse ; so that it would be of con-
sequence to the farmer to have a list of the
plants pofsefsing these two qualities, sepa-
rately made out.

It is a vulgar prejudice, founded upon very
inaccurate observations, that plants which
produce yellow flowers, in general tinge the
5 M4

172 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

butier with their own colour ; than which
hardly any opinion can be so absurd. Yet
upon no better foundation rests the general,
prejudice in favour of pastures that abound
with the butter-fiower, (Ranunculus repens
bu-lbosus) which has evidently derived its
name from that circumstance ; although more ,
accurate observations show, that so far is it .
from being beneficial to cows, that they refuse
to taste the plant till they are reduced to the
greatest distrefs by hunger. It has been often
remarked, that if milk be of a very thick con-
sistence, the cream is not so perfectly sepa-
rated from it, as if it were thinner j that is,
if water be added to it, more cream will be
separated from it, than if it had got no mix-
ture. But in that case, both the butter,
cream, and whey, are poorer in quality, than
if it had not been mixed ; and as milk, natu-
rally thin, is nearly in the same state as thick
milk mixed with water, it seems probable,
that if any plant tends to render the milk
ihicker, it will not afford an additional quan-
tity of cream proportioned to the richnefs of
the milk. But if this rich milk is converted
into cheese, we may expect that it would
-stibrd a greater proportion of curd, and that
of a richer quality.

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 173

11. On sowing Turnips among Beam *.
To sow turnips among beans in April is a
custom frequently practised in Kent ; and if
the land be in good heart, they do often pro-
duce a crop worth the hoeing, when the
beans are carried off the ground in September ;
or if not, the farmer will be pofsefsed of some
sheep-feed in autumn, when it may be much
wanted, and that at a trifling expense ; the
same field may be sown with wheat when
the turnips are fed off, with this additional
advantage, that the ground will have been
improved by the dung and stale of the sheep.

§^ lids method of raising turnips among
bi'oadcast beans has not much to recommend it,
as the closenefs of the beans will prevent the
turnips from forming a bulb ; but when both
crops are judiciously drilled, there is a prO'
bability of advantagecusli/ obtaining a double
crop. A, IT,

1 2. On Harrowing *.
In the County of Somerset this operation is
performed with two harrows, and two horses
a-breast, alad being mounted on the nearhorse.

* B_y Mr. Bannister.

f By John Billingsley, Esq.

IT4 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

The horses are kept to a full trot, by which
one turn of the . arrow pulverizes the soil as
much as three or four in the common saunter-
ing method.

13. Expenses and Profit of sixty Acres of Grass
Land. Dairij-Farm. T'xenty Cows*.

DEBTOR.

£. s. d.
To- reiU of sixty acres, at 30 s. per acre 90 0 0

To tjthe and taxes 20 0 0

To the labour of the family serving rattle,

ntensils, salt, and r>«hei articles, 30 s.

per cow 30 0 0

To hay-making, &c. twenty acres lO 0 0

To manure 10 0 0

To repair of fences 2 0 0

To accidents with cows 10 0 0

•Jo mterest of capital 10 0 0

•a-.i

182 0 0

CREDITOR. '

of. s, d.
By 70 cwt. of cheese, at 2 I. 10 s. per cwt 175 0 0

By butter 20 0 o

By calves 20 0 0

By hogs 30 0 0

Creditor 245 0 0
Debtor 182 0 0

Profit of 63 0 0

By John Billingsley, Esq.

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 175

Though it is not generally practised, a
bi^eeding stock of hogs must be considered as
more profitable upon a dairy farm than a fat-
ting stock. The whey and skimmed milk
constitute a food well adapted to the rearing
of a thriving stock j and it is well known that
there are many instances of a farmer selling,
at six months old, a litter of pigs for more than
thirty pounds ; and this done from the whey,
&;c. of ten cows, and without the afsistance
of corn, any further than the run of the farm-*
yard.

The expenses and profits of a corii farm,
or a farm in mixed hushandryi are so
variable, that it would be difiicult to fix a
standard. The old idea of the produce
amounting to three rents would not now do,
for the expenses of living, of taxes, of w^ages,
&c. are of late years so much increased, that
the value of the produce must be augmented
in proportion.

One remark, however, may be made,
namely, that it is universally admitted by all
stewards, that dairy farmers pay their rents
more punctually than corn farmers.

176 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

14. Oh Public Scavengers *.

It would be of public utility if scavengers
were appointed in every great town, not only
on account of keeping the streets clean from
putrescent substances, but also on account of
collecting large quantities of manure for the
use of the farmer. In the city of London
there are 3000 acres of pavement, in streets
and market-places, the sweeping of which,
together with the dung of 30,000 horses,
8000 cows, and what is produced by 800,000
inhabitants, cannot be calculated at lefs then
500,000 cart loads, which at two shillings per
load, will amount to the sum of 50,000 1. per
annum. This calculation, mutatis imitandis,
may be extended to every town of note in the
Vir ^dom. It is to be lamented, that much of
the soil of privies is lost to the public by the
kennels and covered sewers that deliver their
contents into contiguous rivers, but which, in
many places, might be preserved.

15. On Couch Gi^afs f.

A SPECULATION.

This kind of grafs, which is so troublesome

* By A. Hunter, M. D.
t By A. Hunter, M. D;

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 177

to the farmer, may, with proper attention, be
rendered very useful. Hogs, and I believe
all kinds of cattle, will eat it greedily in its
green state, and when dried it makes a very
nourishing hay. From its succulency, it is a
long time before it can be sufficiently dried,
but it has the peculiar property of abiding the
weather for a great length of time. It is a
doubt with me whether it would not p^y for
the expense of kiln drying, as preparatory to
being ground into powder, or bruised, to be
mixed with bean-meal for hogs.

16. On Water Meadows *.
The best water meadow is probably the
mark of perfection in the management of st-
farm. It follows, of course, that every pos-
sible exertion of labour, art, and machinery,
should be employed to flow as much land as
pofsible. Forty acres of good water-meadow
will support, in the greatest luxuriance, 500
Wiltshire ewes and lambs for six weeks,
from the middle of March to the 1st of May,
during which time they will improve one
shilling a week, or pay three pounds fifteen
shillings per acre, at a time of the year when

* By John Middleton, Esq.

178 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

all other farmers are distrefsed from a want
of food for their stock. With other appropri-
ation, the water-meadow would still be more
valuable, as four or five pounds worth of hay
might be mown off it as early as the month
of May. What an encouragement is here
held out to the farmers in the northern counties
of this kingdom.

17. tl profitable Method of managing four Acres of
a deep Loamy Soil *.

In a field containing four acres, I first grew
a crop of turnips, which were well hoed, and
left very free from weeds j they were after-
wards fed upon the land, which was immedi-
ately (the beginning of March) manured with
ten loads of dung, first ploughed in with a
common plough, and afterwards trench-
ploughed about fifteen inches deep; itwo
acres of which were harrowed very fine, and
carrot-seed sown about the middle of March
(though in general I prefer sowing towards
the latter end of that month, as I have always
observed the plants come up nearly as soon
as the earlier sown, and attended with fewer
weeds). The carrots came up regularly and

• By John Bertram. Esq.

GEORGICAL ESSAYS 113

well, were ready to hoe the beginning of May,
and were tolerably free from weeds ; so free
indeed that they were hoed out with large
hoes, and proved an excellent crop. The other
two acres were prepared by ploughing and
manuring as for the carrots, and set with po-
tatoes, which came up very clean, and proved
an abundant crop. In the succeeding year I
grew one acre of carrots (with the former pre-
parations) on the land where the potatoes
grew, and one acre of potatoes where the car-
rots had grown s the other two acres were
turnips. Ever since, for ten years, this field
has grown turnips, carrots, and potatoes, in
the rotation above mentioned. The carrots
and potatoes coming upon the same ground
only once in three years, the turnips every
other year, the land has thereby become so
clear of weeds, and so rich, that my crops are
annually better, and the expense of hoeing
Jefseneid at least one half. The expense of
this mode of cultivation, together with the
application of the respective crops, is well
known to every farmer. Whoever raises the
most money from a given quantity of land,
is the best farmer, provided the land be left in
good heart and vigour.

180 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

IS. On Paring and Burning.
I AM confirmed, in my opinion, that nothing
is equal to paring and burning for the im-»
provement of waste lands. It has been as-
serted, with confidence, that this operation is
losing soil in the air. This is an afsertion
plausible in theory only ; experience, I am
persuaded, is against it 5 the bad management
of the succeeding crops, and the frequent re-
petition of corn, injure the land, and not the
operation of burning, I will venture to assert,
that I have a greater depth of soil, where I
pared and burnt, than I had before. Any
person following the plough, as it breaks up
the wheat stubble, would agree v/ith me in
opinion. In my parish of Enfield, it turns up
a loose black garden mould of considerable
depth ; this, I apprehend, is easily accounted
for, by attending to the action of burnt clay,
as a mechanical manure, which, when ploughed
into stiff land, breaks its adhesion, and aided
by the vegetable ashes, converts it into good
loam. Fire and water are of more conse-
quence in raising manure than farmers in ge-
neral have as yet viewed them. Not being

"By A. Wilkinson, M. D.

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 181

able to procure hands for paring and burning
part of my spare land, I ploughed and crofs-
ploughed the turf, and then burnt it for ma-
nure with succefs. Burning the turf secures
the crop from that injury from the worm, to
which, on fresh land, it is so much exposed.

19. On the Management of Wheat in the Shock *.

If the weather be tolerably good at thd
time of cutting the wheat, set the sheaves up
naked, an j. m that state let them reniain until
the ears be opened, the chaff loosened, and
the grain mellowed ; and then, if the weather
be hazardous, cover them up until the butts be
thoroughly cured. It is observable that the
sheaves should be set up north and south,
not east and west; for in this case, the
sheaves on the north side are several days
later, in respect to fitnefs of carrying, than
those of the south side.

20. On Salting I{ay\.

I AM persuaded few farmers are aware of
the benefit of salting hay. The salt preserves

• By Mr. Marshall.
t By Mr. T. Bernard.

Folumc VI. N

182 GEOREICAL ESSAYS.

the hay from over-heating and becoming
mildewed, it may be put together greener
than otherwise, without danger of firing. All
kinds of cattle prefer inferior hay, thus ma-
naged, to the best that can be placed before
them that has not been salted. The proper
method of usin^^ it is, in building the stack,
to sprinkle the salt alternately between each
layer of hay, in the proportion of one hundred
weight to seven or eight tons.

21 . On Steaming Potatoes and Turnips*.

For this purpose there is an excellent appa-
ratus fitted up at Woburn. A vefsel, con-
taining near a hogshead, turns on central
pivots i a pierced bottom lets in the steam,
the barrel turning on and off the copper (of
20 gallons) at pleasure ; fitting on to the rim
of the copper in a groove, secured by a wet
rope around it. The contents are steamed in an
hour and twenty minutes after the first heat-
ing. Potatoes were found thus to answer for
hogs moderately ; and for cows, steamed tur-
nips being added to hay, they ate but little of
the latter, the milk and cream much increased.

B;' Mr. Clapton.

GEOftGICAL ESSAYS. 183

and tasted lefs than when the turnips were
eaten raw.

22. On Sheep J as to Buying and Selling*.
At fairs it is usual forthe sheep to be penned
very close within hurdles. I have often ob-
served good judges deceived, when in such a
case they attempted to draw off a lot upon
buying on condition of choosing any out of a
great number; or of throwing back a portion
of the worst. They stand so crowded that
no good judgment can be formed ; it is better,
in this case, to have a pen enlarged by the ad-
dition of a few hurdles, so as to view the
sheep well.

In selling sheep, in a common state of fat-
tiefs, there is an unerring rale, by which the
unexperienced farmer is upon a par with the
oldest salesman or butcher. Weigh the sheep
alive, and half the grofs weight, with from one
to five pounds added to it, is the dead profitable
weight; call it therefore half, and the seller
is secure, and knows that he cannot suficr in
the sale. He should have a cage made with
a door at each end, into which he puts the

By A, Young, Esq.

184 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

sheep, and weighs them, or hogs, with great
expedition. Lord Kaims found the two sides
to be half, skin the eleventh, tallow the tenth,
and ofTal the rest, or somewhat lefs than the
third part.

23. On the Qualifications of a Shepherd*.
A GOOD shepherd is so efsential in the ma-
nagement of a flock, that it is in vain to ex-
pect the full profit which this animal is capa-
ble of yielding, without it. Great numbers of
little farmers, who keep but few sheep, of
course cannot afford this servant; the single
man, kept by such, has many sorts of work to
execute, and all sorts of cattle to take care of;
the consequence of which is, the sheep are
olten neglected. The expense of a shepherd
is considerable, so that the flock must be large
to pay his wages, and keeping sheep are never
in any instance managed to their full advan-
tage without one person constantly to attend
them. A flock of this nature, in the common
management, is folded through a great part
of the year; this is a regular businefs twice
every day. In the lambing season, a careful
eye should always be upon them; and add to

B^ A. Young, Esq.

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 185

these points the numerous distempers to which
they are subject, and it will appear evidently
clear, that this servant is indispensably neces-
sary. But, as the expense of him will, upon
an average, in pay and perquisites, amount
to 301. a year, and in some places more, it is
necefsary to give him as many sheep as he can
properly take care of-, with a breeding stock,
this may be 1000. I have known 1 500 : but
with a thousand he may at lambing time want
some afsistance. Upon the South Dovvns
they reckon 800 ewes enough for a man,
reckoning his expense 301. and the number of
the flock 1000, it is about 7d. a head j extra
attendance in lambing may make it 8d, This
is a very trifling expense in comparison v.ith
the advantages resulting: from it. But when
a shepherd is kept to two or three hundred,
being more than doubled, it becomes an ob-
ject, and cuts too deep into the profit. The
way of paying shepherds is various ; in some
counties they have a portion of the flock :
for instance, 100 ewes, and their produce,
which appears to be a very large allowance :
in others, from 201. to 301. a year, and the
keeping of from five to ten sheep. But upon
a general average we may reckon 301. a-year
about the expense : this is 1 s. a head on 600
2 N 3

186 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

sheep, ■«vhich may be supported; but 2s.
a head on 5C0, ii too heavy to I e afforded with
profit.

The shepherd's businefs is to mantjge and
execute every thing that has any relati<.,n to the
flock : he attends them out with his dog the
whole day through ; lets them out of the fold
in the morning, as soon as the heavy fogs or
dews are difsipatcd ; shifts the hurdles for a
new fold ; folds them at night ; and 'n lamb-
ing season must be up sometimes all night,
if he observes several ewes that appear to be
near lambing, but with difficulty. Good
shepherds in very heavy rains get up and let
their flocks out of the foid, where the soil is
not perfectly dry. In a word, his care and
attention to his flock to keep them in health,
and free from accidents and distemper^, must
be unremitted and indefatigable. With us,
it is customary for the shepherd to follow
the sheep, but in the Scriptures we are told,
that the sheep followed the shepherd. —
John X. 4.

2i. Qn driving Sheep to fold *.
This is an article which must always be

* By A. Young, Esq.

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 187

considered in folding sheep ; for if the walk,
or common, be too far distant from the fold
where they are folded, the sheep will lose
more than to the amount of the value of the
manure. In general, it must be observed,
that a fatting stock, even in its early period,
must be driven a very little distance, not more
than a quarter or half a mile ; and for a breed-
ing flock, if the distance is above a mile, they
w^ill suiter, unlefs it is walk all the way, and
they are moved gently, feeding all the time ;
gravel roads and lanes are exceeding bad to
drive sheep through, as they are apt to give
them disorders in their feet. If a common, or
walk, is a mile off, and such a way to it, I
should prefer a standing Jittered fold on or
near it, rather than drive to so much hazard
of the sheep. In this article, and the not hur-
rying the flock, a good shepherd is of the
greatest consequence. Sheep are in many
parts let out to fold for hire, and the price
usually is 1 s. per week, per score. In Nor-
folk and Suffolk they value the fold at 1 s. to
Is. 6d. a head, per annum. By the stand-
ing fold, in the course of the winter only, I
make a ton of manure by every sheep, wliicii
(expenses deducting) will for that half year
only, amount to more money. The value of

N4

188 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

the dung in both cases, will depend on the
gcodnefs of the food. Let it be remembered,
that before the sheep are let out of any fold,
the shepherd should go in and disturb the
flock, in order to induce them to stale and
dung, which they do on first rising.

It is reckoned that lambs are the worse
on account of common folding by is. in 12.
This is probably owing to bad weather in the
night, when they are prevented from getting
to shelter. I never saw finer lambs than I
have had in the covered fold : I firmly believe
the finer on account of that practice.

25. On Pastures*.
I OBSERVE no stated time of turning into the
pasture, being governed in this respect wholly
by the season. Every fortnight I send my
boy with a shovel and wheelbarrow to take
up the dung, which is put on a heap, and
covered with earth or ashes, as 1 think nothing
encourages and promotes the rank and strong
tufts of grafs, which take up a great part of
most pastures here, and which the cattle will
not touch, more than the negligent and too

* By Mr. William Stow,

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 189

common practice of suffering the dung to re-
main on the ground : by a strict adherence
to the above method of taking up the dung,
my pasture becomes one entire bed ot level
grafs. In a few weeks the grafs is grown on
the places where the dung was laid, and not
a vestige of the dung to be seen ; but in these
pastures where the above is not practised, I
usually find a great part of the pastures in-
commoded with numerous tufts of rank grafs,
and a great quantity of dung, especially to-
wards Michaelmas, when the pastured begin
to fail ; and this, in fact, is to diminish or take
nearly an eighth of the size of such pastures ;
not to mention the very great diiference of
the dung, both in point of quantity and
quality.

26. On the speediest metJiod of diffusing Agricultural
hwuvkdge * .

It must be manifest to every superficial ob-
server, that the most convincing and self-
evident improvement, may be practised in
one parish for years, and never be heard of in
another at ten miles distance. I should there-
fore strongly recommend to every nobleman

By the Rev. li. J. Close.

190 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

or gentleman of large landed property, the
following plan. Let those, who have estates
in the counties where the managemeni and im-
provement of grafs-lands, and of stock, are
well understood, take one tenant from the
counties of Suffolk and Norfolk, where the
farmers are almost a century before many
other counties, in the management of arable
lands, and place him on a farm in a centrical
part of his property, observing to transplant him
from a soil somewhat similarto that which he is
toenterupon. Ifstrongloams,or clays, he should
be sought for in what is called high Suffolk,
or from similar soils in Norfolk. If gravels,
or light lands, he should come from, what are
deemed in those counties, the sand-lands This
would introduce a much lefs expensive mode
of cultivating the lands, and a more judicious
mode of cropping into many counties of Eng-
land. But though I give to the counties of Suf-
folk and Norfolk the most decided superiority
in the management of lands, under tillage ; yet
I am of opinion, that the farmers in those
counties, are not lefs ignorant in the manage-
ment of stock, and in the improvement of
meadow and pasture lands, by irrigation, and
other judicious modes, than other counties are
inferior to them in tilling and cropping the

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 19l

arable lands. Land-owners in those coun-
ties, would facilitate the improvement of their
property, by adopting similar measures, and
transplanting into each district a few tenants,
from situations where the management of
stock, and the improvement of meadow and
pasture lands are better understood.

^7. On feeding Turnips on the Land, or carting thetn
to S/ieds*.

Born and educated in Suffolk, where almost
all the turnips are fed upon the land,l naturally
adopted the same plan. Experience has since
convinced me, that though the Suffolk farmers
may know how to grow good turnips, they
have yet to learn how to make a proper use
of them. The objections to this system are
evident. A large proportion of the turnip
crop is wasted by the cattle. The manure is
not only very unequally and promiscuously
left on the land, but by far the greatest part
of it is dropped, or washed into the furrov/s,
and carried off by the rains; and winter feed-
ing in this climate, without any shelter from
the vicifsitudes of the weather, must, in some

By the Rev. H. J. Close.

152 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

degree, injure the cattle. The only ob-
jection to carting the green vegetables home
to sheds, both in winter and summer, is the
additional labour and expense ; but these are
paid for in a ten-fold degree by the increased
value of the food, the thriving of the cattle,
the making the dung under cover, and having
reservoirs to catch the urine, AVith this ma-
nagement, one good acre of turnips will pro-
duce an excellent drefsing for an acre and a
half of land, and will completely wmter-fat
an ox of fifty score. If fed on the land, two
acres may fat an ox, but not so well, and the
drefsing will be very partial and precarious.

I shall here give the average money price
of an acre of turnips, to be fed on the land in
Suffolk, and then state the profit, not of one
acre, but of all the turnips on a farm when
carted into sheds. Forty shillings an acre is
a high price for turnips in Suffolk j but as
they are fed in that county, very commonly,
by the stock of graziers, who have no land,
we must value the manure left on the field,
though in a most slovenly v/ay, at thirty
shillings more. Now I have frequently
cleared ten pounds ten shillings -per acre by
my turnip crop, when used in sheds -, and a

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 193

neighbour of mine, who farms on a large
scale, cleared this sum on his turnip crop the
last year j and the quantity of the very best
manure raised from such an acre of turnips so
managed, will amount to twenty tons, worth
five shillings per ton. These observations
apply to horses, and cattle of all sorts, sheep
excepted. How far it will be practicable or
eligible to house these useful animals, I
cannot presume to say , but certainly they
thrive best when they lodge dry. Horses,
bullocks, cows, &c. of all sorts should, in my
opinion, be under sheds, winter and summer,
except a few hours in the day time in winter,
or a few hours in the evening, or at night in
summer. One acre of grafs, clover, lucern,
or vetches, cut and carted to the sheds, will
support three times as many cattle, in better
order than the same acre when fed in the
common way. The waste in this mode must
be great, from the trampling of the cattle ;
and on pasture lands, they will naturally pick
the most palatable grafses first, and leave the
others to run up to bents. No mixture of
cattle can prevent this ; for though one sort
may prefer one species of grafs, and another
another, it is altogether impofsible so to
proportion each species of cattle, to the species

l9i GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

of grafs most palatable to it, as to prevent a

scarcity of one sort, and an abundance of the

other. It must also be observed, that when

there is a mixture of cattle, they frequently

interrupt each other and do not thrive. By

stalling, all the green food is eaten, and no

part of it wasted. The cattle fill themselves

in half the time, and consequently have more

hours for rest. They cannot interrupt each

other. The dung made under cover is not

only much stronger, and in much larger

quantities, but can be applied to any part of

the farm, instead of being almost entirely lost,

as when dropped on the pastures. The

cattle are never liable to kick each other, or

to be damaged by breaking pasture ; and it

will never be necefsary for a ploughman to

lose a day's work, searching the adjoining

fields or paribhes for his horses. These ex-

peijments and arguments, will, 1 trust, appear

conclusive as to the best mode of applying

sreen vegetable food both in summer and

winter : For my horses, I have erected cheap

thatched sheds, in which they have room to

walk and to roll, and in these they go winter

and summer; to which I attribute it, that

they are not so liable to colds as those kept in

a hot stable, and are never cracked or greasy-

CEORGICAL ESSAYS. 195

healed. For my bullocks and cows, my stalls
are seven feet wide, each stall holding two
head of cattle, each fastened by the neck close
to the side of the stall, to prevent their inter-
fering with each other with their horns.

28. On Ribband Grafs*.

A SPECULATION.

This is a species of grafs usually cultivated
in gardens for variety and ornament. When
green, it is eaten by horses, and I apprehend
that when made into hay it will prove equally
agreeable. It ripens about a fortnight before
the meadows are fit to cut, and it has the ap-
pearance of producing a heavy crop. It
delights in a moist soil, and is a perennial
plant.

29. On the Dibbling Husbandry*.

I CANNOT sufficiently expatiate on the ex-
cellence and importance of the dibbling hus-
bandry. It saves two pecks of seed per acre,
which is a considerable object in a whole
kingdom i it gives a second harvest to the

* By A. Hunter, M. D.
f By the Rev. A. Young.

196 CEORGICAL ESSAYS

poor in wheat sowing ; and a third in oats j
and it is universally, on any fair average, at-
tended with an increase of crop of from two to
six bushels an acre : view this practice in any
light, and it will be found highly deserving of
particular attention and encouragement. A
man and his wife and six children will earn
five, six, and seven guineas at wheat dibbling ;
and as much more by oats, and pease, and
beans. No crop should be put in on a flag,
or layer, or on unbroken earth, in any other
manner. It far exceeds drilling ; which,
however, is a commendable practice in many
cases.

30. An old Sheep-Pasture not convertible into
Meado-j) *.

After a field has been long pastured with
sheep, and close fed, it becomes unable to yield
a large growth of hay : the plants by being
constantly cropped down, acquire a dwarfish
habit. There is a field on this estate which
has been under grafs time immemorial, and
kept fed for the last forty years at least,
except one year in which it was mown, ex-
pecting a vast crop : th.e season was very fa-

B}- Ihe Rev. A. Young.

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 197

VourabJe, but I was utterly disappointed, for
the produce was small. I have known the
same thing happen on inclosing an old com-
mon. In Scotland a similar remark has been
made. " Two inclosures of the same soil
were laid down together with grafs-seeds of
the same kind : after two years hay, the one
was surrendered to pasture : from the other a
crop of hay was taken every other year.
After an absence of seven years, the pro-
prietor returned home; and wanting more
hay, mowed both" fields, and that which had
been pastured, gave the worst crop.

31. On repairing iiew laid Land*.

It often happens that two or three kinds of
the seeds sown do not vegetate, in which case
the field may be repaired by re-sowing the de-
ficient seeds in the spring, when the weather
is moist. And as the harrow cannot at this
time be well introduced, a large fold (five or
six yards to a sheep) may advantageously be
run over the field, the seeds being sown before
the sheep enter. This method will effectually
thicken a new lay that has suffered from
abortive seeds.

* By A. Hunter, M. D.
Volume VI. q

193 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

32, ^ hiimmie method of bringing "waste lands intd

Cultivation*.

The giving a cottage and a few acres of
waste land, under a small reserved rent, and
perhaps under other useful restrictions, to a
poor man, is certainly a good way of im-
proving the land. When a man has land of
his own, he and his family will exert, in its
cultivation, a quantity of labour which would
not otherwise be brought into existence. The
value of this, otherwise non-existing labour is,
in one respect, nothing ; it ought not to be
reckoned as a part of the expense attending
the improvement of the land ; and, on that
account, many thouf.ands of acres of v^'aste
land might be brought into cultivation, which
would not, in any other way, pay the expense
of improvement.

33. On the rejounes a^aifist a severe Jointer and

Spring \.

For the support of great stocks of cattle
and sheep during a severe season, there are
three resources.

By the Bishop of Landaff.
By A. Young, Esq.

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 199

1st, Rozveji, or after-grafs. This provision
is, perhaps, of all others, the most important :
it costs next to nothing 5 bad weather never
destroys it 5 it gives much milk, and may be
kept to any period ; for the young shoot
springs under it so strongly, that when the
surface seems dead and worthlefs, there will
be found a treasure beneath. It demands no
other attention than to adapt the season of
training- it uo to the richnefs of the land:
upon poor and indifferent up-lands it should
be from the scythe, or middle of July ; on
richer lands, from the end of August ; and
from still better meadows, from September.
When the growth before winter is too great,
heavy snows are apt to spoil it, but with a
proper attention to this point, never. I con-
sider an acre of hay yielding a ton, and the
Rowen of that acre, to be equal for sheep to
an acre of turnips.

2d, Szvedish turnip. No frost affects these
roots, which are juicy and nourishing long-
after the shoots are far advanced for seed.
The plant, however, demands rich land, or
ample manuring ; and none will pay better
for cither. The seed should be sown where
it is to remain, from the beginning of May to

02

200 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

the middle of June, and set out in hoeing^
as with turnips, at a distance proportioned to
the fertility of the soil.

3d, Slubble turnips. I have not seen this
branch of cultivation any where so well under-
stood as in the vale of Taunton, where I found
it commonly practised thirty years ago. Im-
mediately on reaping the wheat, without
waiting for the crop being carried, they
plough the stubble, and harrow in turnip
seed, setting the sheaves in rows upon the
land thus tilled. These turnips, if the weather
is tolerably favourable, will rise to the hoe ;
but without any hoeing, they prove exceed-
ingly valuable late in the spring for sheep.
No frosts affect such late sown crops.

These three articles, with hay moderately
given, will secure any flock from the
dreadful lofses brought on by a severe winter
and spring.

34. On the Milk consumed in London**
The cow-keepers in the neighbourhood of

* By Mr. Thomas Baird.

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 201

London supply the retailers with milk, un-
adulterated, at the rate of three-farthings a
pint, and those retail it to the inhabitants at
three-halfpence. Though the yielding a great
quantity of milk is naturally the principal
quality wished for by the cow-keepers in the
cows they purchase, yet so indifferently have
they as yet succeeded in obtaining that object,
that though it is well known that cows in
Scotland, of the true Dutch breed, yield at the
rate of sixteen Scotch pints, or eight English
gallons per day, and sometimes more, yet in
the neighbourhood of London, they seldom
give more than six gallons even in the height
of summer; indeed five gallons in summer,
and four in winter, is a high enough average.

The account of each cow will then stand
as follows :

No. of gals. Value of milk.

£. s. d.
Five gallons per day, for

182 days, at 6d. per

gallon 910 22 15 0

Four gallons per day, for

183 days, at 6d. per

gallon 732 18 6 0

16'42 41 I o

4 O 3

202 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

On the supposition that there are 6000 cows
necefsary for the supply of London and its
suburbs, there are consequently 9,852,000
gallons of milk sold there in a year, or, on an
average, about 27,046 gallons daily, for which
the cow-keepers get 246,3001.3 and as the
retailers get 1 s. per gallon, it costs the inhabi-
tants of London 492,6001. per annum, or
about 13501. per day, to be supplied with
milk and cream.

35. On Tares*.
In Sufsex, arable lands, tolerably clean and
in heart, or rendered sufficiently so with ma-
nure, are ploughed in September or October,
and sown with winter tares, which are fed
off in April and May with Sheep. The land
is then ploughed, and spring tares are sown
for sheep-feeding in autumn : in this manner
two crops are gained, instead of an unpro-
ductive fallow. Upon ray-grafs and trefoil
layers, instead of a bastard fallow, as in
Norfolk, they sow spring tares and rape,— -a
bushel of tares and a gallon of rape; these are
fed off in autumn with sheep. One acre and
twenty-nine perches of such a crop have been

* By A, Yourg, Esq.

GEORCICAL ESSAYS. 202

found siiflicient for four hundred ewes tor
a week; which at 2d. is Si. 6s. 8 d.; the value
of the fold 11. 5 s.; together 4 1, lis. 8d.

The whole range of British husbandry docs
not offer a more valuable instance of manage-
ment than that which is here described. I
may remark, that the same management is
pursued when tares are used for soiling the
teams in the stable. The winter sort are
ready in May and June ; and as fast as the
land is cleaned it is ploughed, and instantly
sown in regular succefsion with the spring
sort ; by which means soiling goes on from
June inclusive to November.

In Wiltshire, spring vetches are sowm on
the Downs in suceefsion during the spring
months, so as to come in at different times of
the summer.

In Gloucestershire, vetches are sown for
feeding sheep, which are put on them the
lattpr end of May or beginning of June.
They are commonly hurdled off in the same
jnanner as turnips ; but if a bulky crop, the
better way is to give thom through rack-
hurdles, which are made the same as the coni-

0 4

204 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

mon five-railed ones, only leaving the middle
rail out, and nailing spars acrofs, at proper
distances, to admit the sheep to put their
heads through. A swarth of vetches being
mown acrofs the land, a sufficient number of
these hurdles, allowing one to five sheep, are
set close to it. At noon the shepherd mows
another swarth, and throws it to the hurdles ;
and the same at night. Next morning, the
swarth being first mown, the hurdles are
again set. In this way the vetches are clean
eaten. As fast as cleared, the land is plough-
ed, and sown v»ith turnips ; sometimes with
spring vetches. Too much cannot be said
in praise of this admirable management : It
is perfection.

26. On Marl-grafs.

In Somersetshire, marl-grafs (trifolium al-
pestre) is cultivated in the north-east district.
This spontaneous production of marl-land,
first collected fifty or sixty years ago, by a
Mr. James, of Chilcompton, has become com-
mon, and is considered as a valuable substitute
for red clover ; it lasts much longer. Sow,
201b. of it, and 7 lb. of white Dutch.

37. On Rape for Cattle.
This crop is never cut and fed in the yard

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 205

or house. Whatever cattle eat it are turned
judiciously into the field ; consequently it is
to be depended on only on soils that are dry,
and will not poach ; in this case it is a very
profitable and useful crop; not to the ex-
clusion of turnips and cabbages, but to suc-
ceed them in the spring, when these are
rotten, or gone

38. On Carrots and Potatoes,

There is no winter food so good for cou's
as these roots ; and where the crops are ex-
ceedingly plentiful, it may answer to give them
by way of bait, but we must not suppose that
any cow can pay for a constant and regular
full meal of either.

39. On Suckling.

For a certain distance around the capital,
dairies are lefs profitable than suckling, that
is, fattening calves for the butcher, the year
round. This is also lefs troublesome, and
lefs subject to impositions, but is not at all
applicable to the great body of the kingdom,
and very rarely practised but in the neigh-
bourhood, that is, within thirty or forty miles
of very great cities. The cow-house for this
purpose should be large and airy : a range of

206 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

tics on one side to fasten the cows, and one of
cribs on the other for the calves. The house
and cribs must, by cleaning and littering, be
kept accurately clean, and free from ill smells,
or the calves will not thrive well. The
calves are brought in and suckled twice a
day. Leather collars are buckled around the
necks of the calves, by which they are tied in
the cribs ; and lines from the ceiling of the
house are fastened, so that the calf may be
tied in a moment to them, while they are
suckling, to confine them to their right place.
Without this precaution, the whole house
would be a scene of confusion, and much
afsistance necefsary ; but by good manage-
ment one man will completely attend fifteen
or twenty cows. The cows while tied up,
are fed in winter, spring, and autumn, with
grains, cabbages, turnips, hay, soiling, &;c.
In this system, calves are constantly buying
in, at ten days or a fortnight old, for 12 and
15 s. to 20s. each, and kept to be worth from
40s. to five pounds, leaving a good profit.
Cows that are suckled are seldom affected by
the disease called the garget, which proceeds
from not being clean milked. This complaint
appears as a hard knot in the udder, and is
often attended with the lofs of one or two of

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 207

the teats. When the disease is recent, it is
a good way to have the cow sucked for some
time, stroaking clean after the calf; but
when long continued, it is the best way to
dry the cow for fattening, rather than to
attempt a cure.

40. 0)1 Deep Ploughing*.

When first Lord AV^inchelsea engaged in
farming, a person, who was then his bailiff,told
him the land would not produce pease,
beans, carrots, or potatoes ; but not confiding
in this information, his Lordship made an ex-
periment of them on the common ploughing
of three inches deep : the crops, as predicted,
all failed. He then tried them again, — an
acre of each, with trench-ploughing, and the
produce of all the four was very great. The
whole farm, from that time, has been ploughed
deep, and his Lordship has every reason to
Ijelieve, that, without a proper depth of tillage,
the value of those rich red soils will not be
discovered. This is a most important expe-
riment, as it may be the means of inducing
farmers to examine more minutely into the

By A. Younj, Esq.

208 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

depth of their arable lands. An inch of fresh
soil added to what has been turned over for
half a century, is of inestimable value.

41. On Wheat Dibbled on a Clover Lay*.

A SPECULATION,

"Wheat dibbled on a clover lay is often de-
stroyed by the wire-w^orm ; and as lime is
found to be inimical to v^'^orms and slugs with
tender skins, would it not be a good preserva-
tive to strew some hot lime over the land im-
mediately on its being dibbled ? I know a
farmer who gets good crops of wheat after
ploughing in the second crop of clover, and
giving the surface a slight drefsing of lime
newly slaked. Tlie soil a tenacious clay.
In countries remote from manure, this seems
a rational system.

42. On the Rot in Sheep f.
This is the most dangerous disease to which
sheep are subject, and perhaps the least under-
stood. It is attributed in different parts of this
kingdom to a thousand different causes, though

* Bj A. Hunter, M. D.
f B}' A Young, Esq.

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 209

all, or most of them, are supposed to arise from
a superabundant moisture in the ground.

No sheep ever rotted upon high, hilJy, or
rocky land; when a country is so uniformly
dry that you may go some miles to find a spring
or a river, no rot is ever found upon it ; yet it
is not moisture simply that rots, because some
of the wettest soils never rot; nor does a
a salt marsh, let it be as wet as may be ; but,
on the contrary, it cures the disease.

The circumstance of all wet lands, not rot-
ting, laid the foundation of a theory amongst
farmers, that it is owing either to a sudden
growth of grafs occasioned by much wet, or
elfe to certain plants which the animal finds
in some wet places, namely, particularly the
marsh penny-wort or white rot, (Hydrocotylc
Vulgaris) and the butter wort fPinguicula
VnlgarisJ. But there are strong reasons for
believing this is an error, notwithstanding
Ilartlib mentions the disease as occasioned bv
the first named plant. If feeding on fresh
luxuriant grafs, or on those plants, was the
cause of the rot, one would naturally look for
that effect more in the spring than in the
autumn. But the contrary is the fact, as all

210 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

the pof=ef>or5 of watered meadows well know ;
for it is very remarkable, that no watered
meadovv rots by feeding it in the spring.
This is so acknowledged a fact, that the com-
mon husbsndry of those grounds is to depend
on them for the spring food of sheep, by the
men who know with equal certainty, that the
same knds rot their flocks infallibly, if fed in
autumn, before the watering of that season ; a
circumstance decisive to prove that it is not
the ycun^ ^rafs which occasions the disease :
and still mo:e go, that it is not the feeding on
any p^.rticular plant, especially such as flower
in Msv, the case of the two above-named
plants.

I am reduced to think with sdme Swedish
Naturalists, that the distemper is totally ow-
ing to the fluke, or fish found in the hepatic
and billiary ducts, and that the sheep lick up
those insects in feeding on certain wet places.
A strong confirmation of this idea is, that the
Jiuke 15 found adhering both to stones and
plants in some moist lands; it is called by
Linrixus the Fasdola Hepatka. This ani-
mal, whose natural history is not sufficiently
known, m-ay not be produced in the spring.
WTien the disease is discovered, or suspected.

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 211

the best remedy is to put the sheep immedi-
ately on very dry, sound, healthy land.

43. On obtaining a vinous Spirit from Carrots *.
The production of spirit from grain beino-
often prohibited by an act of the legislature^
would it not be advisable to recommend
carrots as a substitute for grain in makino- a
vinous spirit ? From some experiments which
I have made, I am warranted to say, that
eighteen tons of carrots will produce 100 gal-
lons of a proof spirit equal in goodnefs to tliat
which is obtained from grain.

I took one ton of carrots, which, after being
topped and tailed^ were well washed in warm
water, and afterwards cut into pieces about
three inches in length. In this state they were
put into a copper, with a sufficient quantity of
water, to prevent their being burnt. They
were then covered up with cloths to confine
the steam, and in a short time were re-
duced to a soft and pulpy state. When nearlv
cold, they were put into a common screw-
prefs, and the juice extracted from then].
This juice, when mixed with the liquor left
in the copper, was boiled down as if intended

* By A. Hunter, M.D.

JlS 6EORGICAL ESSAti.

for ale ; in taste, colour, and smell, it much
resembled sweet wort. I need not describe
the manner of conducting the fermentation of
this liquor, nor the subsequent distillation, as
those operations are well known to the makers
of raw spirits. I presume that it would be a
national benefit if this mode of producing an
ardent spirit was permitted, paying a small
dutv, at the time when the distilleries are
stopped. It would, in a great measure, pre-
vent the large importation of foreign spirits.

It is probable that the parsnip, and the red
beet, may be more productive of spirit than
the root with which my experiments were
made. An acre of carrots (18 tons) will pro-
duce considerably more spirit than an acre of
barley, (estimated at 5 quarters) and leave a
greater quantity of food for hogs^ which is a
material consideration to the distiller, as the
refuse makes a considerable part of liis profit.

44. The most projilable Method of bringing Waste
Land into Cultivation * •

A SPECULATIOX.

Turnips are so useful an article in the im-
provem.ent of waste iand, that in many cases

• Bv A. Hunter, M. D.

CEORGICAL ESSAYS. 213

it may be advisable to take two crops of these
in succefsion, after paring and burning.
This will reduce the land into a fine tilth,
and render it in excellent condition for lay-
ing it down with seeds, either with or with-
out a crop of corn, but better without corn.
With this management, and a careful attention
to the cleaning and manuring of the young
quick wood, an uncultivated waste, may, in a
few years, be made to put on the appearance
of an old inclosure. A landlord who has spirit
enough to give up the land to the farmer,
rent free, for the first year, will, in the end,
find his profit to overbalance his generosity.
In following such a system, it will be unne-
cefsary to say, that the turnips must be eaten
oflfwith sheep i and to prevent their cropping
the newly planted quickwood, they must be
confined in the usual manner by nets or hur-
dles. To draw the turnips, woyld overturn
the whole system.

45. The bad Consequences of a Farmer's Lejlening
his Capital by the Purchase of Land *.

Those who are fond of political calcula-
tions may have here full scope for their inge-

* ^y James Anderson, LL. D.

Volume VI. P

'-'14 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

iiuity, by supposing that two men of equal
spiri^kno\yled_gQ^and capital, set out in the
agricultural line. One of them as a tarmer,
on a lease; and the other as a small proprietor,
or yeoman. Let the capital be taken any
how at random ; say 20001. The yeoman, we
shall say, lays out J50oi. of that sum in the
purchase of a farm, which, at thirty years
purchase, would be worth 501. a year, and he
has 500 1. left for stocking and improving it.
The other leases a farm, which, at a fair rent,
is worth 200 1. a year. Let us follow out the
calculation, — first, in regard to the profits that
the different occupiers themselves can enjoy,
and the rate at which their families can afiford
to live;— -and, second, with regard to the aug-
mentation of agricultural produce that each of
them could afibrd to the state ; and let this
calculation be continued for a considerable
number of years. Then strike the balance,
and see what an amazing difference !

46. The Collection o/Tt/tbeinkbid, an improper
Employment for a Clergijman*.

The collection of tythe in kind, is, of all

By James Anderson, LL. D.

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 215

employments, the most unbecoming the cleri-
cal character, more especially when it is con-
sidered, that every person concerned will
feci himself disposed to pay it with reluctance,
and will throw every obstruction in the way
that he thinks will tend to render it disagree-
able and troublesome. To avoid this heavy
train of evils, most of the sober-minded, well-
disposed, worthy men among the clergy, wish,
at all events, to free themselves from it. If
they attempt to draw the tythe themselves,
unable to cope with those who are accustomed
to transactions where cunning and chicanery
are exercised to their utmost stretch, they are
imposed on at all hands, and receive but a
small proportion of what they have a legal
title to. If they attempt to transfer their right
to another, that person must be well paid for
executing an ofiice which is attended with
so much trouble, and so many interferencies
with his neighbours. Few, indeed, will un-
dertake the task, unlefs it be persons of a tur-
bulent disposition, who are disposed to grasp
at all advantages j and who will not, perhaps,
be very scrupulous at imposing upon the
clergyman as readily as others. In this way,
there is reason to believe, that a worthy clergy-
man of primitive simplicity of manners, does

P2

216 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

not, in many cases, realize much more than
one half of the sum he has a legal claim to
exact. To such men, this mode of providing
a living for them is perhaps among the worst
that can be devised.

But if a person having a right to the tythes,
be one of a turbulent disposition ; one who
is eager to grasp at all advantages ; one who is
regardlefs of the circumstances of others i
one who is little scrupulous about the means
he adopts for obtaining an ascendency over
his neighbours ; and who, laying aside the
decorum becoming the clerical character,
engages in a perpetual bustle and wrangling,
determined to exact with the utmost rigour
every item that the law authorises him to levy.
The living that would be a poor one in the
hands of the person of the former description,
will be, to him, abundant j and he will live
in affluence, while the family of the other
b condemned to comparative poverty. In
acting thus, however, he loses all influence in
his clerical capacity. His practice belies
the doctrines he is obliged to preach. He
becomes detested and despised. In the per-
formance of religious duties he is deserted :
the morals of his parishioners are corrupted,

g£orgical essays. 217

and the finest bonds of society are difsolved;
He becomes a disgrace to the venerable body
to which he belongs j and the whole order,
because of his impropriety of conduct,
falls into general disrespect. " Is it not a
matter of much astonishment, that the clergy
should so universally object to convert their
tythes into money, as their refusal is the oc-
casion of our holy religion receiving so many
bitter wounds. Is it not consistent with
justice to compel their acceptance, by the
same authority that obliges a man to convert
into money part of his landed property, for
the purpose of a canal or a turnpike road !"

A. H.

47. Beans preferable to a Fallow*.

So long back as the year 1767, I enter-
tained an idea, that the thick shade from a
crop of beans in the height of summer would
cause a putrid fermentation, open the land,
loosen the soil, and, at the same time, from
the nature of the vegetable being leguminous,
would not exhaust it ; for which reasons, I
concluded they might be substituted instead
of a fallow in my farm, the soil of which con-

♦ By the Rev. Mr. Fiske.
5 PS

218 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

sisted of a thick wet loam. In March, that
year, I mucked six acres of barley stubble,
and set it with Windsor beans ; the crop
kept clean ; the produce 48 coombs ; 46 of
which were sold to a gardener of Bury, for
18s. per coomb.

October following, the same field was
sown with wheat ; the produce rather better
than six coombs per acre, which was more by
a coomb per acre than I had that year from
any clean fallow.

!March, 1768, I set 16 acres of the small
horse-bean, two rows upon a three feet ridge,
upon an oat stubble, ploughed at Michaelmas,
and mucked before the setting ; the crop nine
coombs per acre ; wheat succeeded, which
proved the best crop in the whole parish.

Being now fully convinced that the idea I
liad first formed was right, I determined to
plant every field I occupied in rotation with
beans, which I have done ; and have often
had ten, eleven, and once twelve coombs per
acre, and never failed of getting a fair crop
of wtieat of six coombs an acre, on an average,
after them.

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 219

In 1782, to prove the use of a bean culture
as a preparation for barley, the followin;^ ex-
periment was made in an eight-acre field -,
four acres of which were sown with turnips,
two acres set with tick beans, (which in my
opinion, yield in general the best crop) two
acres a clean fallow ; the beans kept clean.
The tui r.ips were hoed and fed otf with sheep.
The spring following, the whole field was
sown with barley. That after beans the
best, after the fallow next, after turnips by
much the worst.

Let the man who would farm in the best
manner for profit, never suffer two exhausting
crops to follow one another. Let him avoid
fallowing ; for in my opinion, the more the
land is ploughed in summer, the more the ve-
getable food is exhausted. In the culture of
beans, let him give them a fair chance ; let him
keep them clean, which cannot be done but
by hoeing early. Let him manure plentifully,
so that he may command large crops, which
is of great importance, not only to the crop
itself, but also to that which succeeds, for
every bushel gained in the crop of beans, is a
certain gain in the wheat or barley which
follows.

2 P4

220 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

48. Observations on the above System^.

The culture of dry land by means of turnips
is well understood j but the management of
wet soils is yet in its infancy, except in certain
corners of the Island little known, and in the
farms of enlightened individuals. I hazard
nothing in afserting, that the great desidera-
tum in British agriculture, is the discovery of
fallow crops for clays and wet loams, by
means of which summer fallows may be as
completely banished from these soils as they
are from sands. The practice of Air. Fiske,
which he has concisely, and, as I personally
know, candidly described in the above me-
moir, is a very satisfactory and important step
towards the introduction of this system. It
is not an experiment practised for a year or
two, and then abandoned, but the common
management of his farm, in which he relies
upon the bean crop for cleaning and improvingy
just as much as a common farmer does upon
his yearns fallow. The beans are more effec-
tive, for his wheat crops are upon the whole
better than those of his neighbours, though.

* Bt a. Young, Esq.

GEORGICAL ESSAYS 221

by dung and fallow, they almost buy their
wheat before they reap it.

Nothing can be clearer, or more decisive,
than the comparison, nor can any practice be
more secure when pursued with ardour, and
with proper attention to the directions given
by Mr. Fiske, Manuring is necefsary to
succefs, unlefs the beans are planted on a lay,
which is of all others the best preparation.
The hoe should be used incefsantly, and
without sparing expense, as the cheapnefs of
this preparation for wheat, when compared
with a fallow, will well admit of it. Tliis,
a short calculation will sufficiently demon-
strate.

FALLOW.

ef". S. d.

Four earllis 0 17 0

Rent, rates, and tithe , 10 0

Manure , 2 0 0

3 17 0

222 OEORGICAL ESSAYS.

BEANS.

£. s. d.

Rent, rates, and tithe 1 0 0

One earth 0 5 0

Seed 0 6 0

Dibbling 0 5 0

Harro\Ting 0 0 6

Manure 2 0 0

Hoeing 0 12 0

Reaping and harvesting 0 7 0

Threshing nine coombs 0 4 6

Carrying out , 0 5 0

£. s. ^. 5 5 0

8 coombs of bean, at 12s 4 16 0

Value of straw 0 9 0

5 5 0

Expense of bean preparation *... 0 0 0

Balance difference between beans and fallow .... 3 17 0

49. Oji Tares*.

As the faroiers in the north of England are
beginning to cultivate tares, it will be proper
to remind them, that in consequence of the
difference between their climate and that of
their southern neighbours, it will be proper
if it can be conveniently done, to sow this
crrain three weeks, or a month earlier. Their
season is immediately after wheat harvest.

*By A. Hiinler, M. D.

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. f28

If intended for soiling in the spring, it may
be a judicious practice to sow rye with the
tares, which M'ill not only increase the quan-
tity upon the land, but be the means of
warming and invigorating the tares during
the severity of the winter. After the winter
tares are consumed, summer tares are usually
sown upon the same land by the south country
farmers, and these as well as the winter ones
are consumed in soiling, a practice much to
be commended. Some farmers sow summer
tares at different intervals during the summer,
by which the practice of soiling may be
continued down to the month of October.
In place of summer tares, turnips may be
sown ; or the land may be put under a
summer fallow for wheat.

50. On Winter Tares^.

Having reaped a crop of wheat on the 27th
of July, I set the sheaves in rows in such a
manner as to plough immediately without lofs
of time. The season being dry it required a
strong plough and six horses, the earth break-
ing up in very large pieces. It was left till

By G. H. Sumner, Esq.

224 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

rain came, and taking the soil in its tight
temper, harrowed and worked by two plough-
ings. The first of September, winter tares
were sown, which were begun to be fed by
sheep, the 18th of JMay, and 8^ acres main-
tained 446 sheep eight weeks : the land was
then ploughed for turnips.

Every thing here depended on the first
ploughing of the wheat stubble : had that
been delayed till the rain would have ad-
mitted common tillage, the temper of the
land would have been lost. The difficult
ploughing in a hard, dry state, prepared the
land in the best manner, by leaving it a long
time roasting in the sun. How much de-
pends, in many cases, on a single earth given
at the right moment !

51. On Washing Roadi.

.m

Roads, upon which the traffic is consider-
able, and the materials for mending them not
of the hardest quality, are apt to be extremely
dusty in summer, and loaded with mud in
winter. The usual method of cleaning them

By Mr. EUls.

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 225

has been by scraping-, but to this mode, there
is a material objection, that much gravel is
carted away, as it is not easy to separate the
stones which are ground down from those
which are only broken. The expense of thus
cleaning is also considerable. Those evils
occasioned another practice, that of washing
away the mud 3 this has been found cheaper,
more effectual, and takes off only the particles
ground too small to be useful. But it can be
applied only in certain situations ; there must
be a declivity to prevent the water stagnating ;
it should run freely, but not with too great
rapidity. Where bracks and streams cannot
be turned in, which is often the case, reser-
voirs by the side of the road answer the pur-
pose, if prepared with attention.

52, To produce Apples^ of which one half of each will
be sweet and the other half sour *.

Take two scions or grafts, one from a sour.

* By his excellency John Jay, of New York. Tliis
singular experiment is here inserted on the most respect-
able authority. Its succefs seems to depend on getting
the opposite buds to inosculate. The other buds, if per-
mitted to remain, will certainly follow their respective
natures. A, h.

'226 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

the other from a sweet apple-tree ; divide or
split with a sharp knife each graft into two
parts or halfs, taking care to pafs the knife
through the centre or middle of as many buds
as are in a line with each other j then take
one half of the sweet graft and join it to a
half of the sour graft, in such a manner that
two or more of the half buds on each do ex-
actly meet and fit each other ; then carefully
wind round them worsted or woollen thread
to keep them together ; and having thus be-
come one graft, cut it so as that the bark of
the wedge part, which enters the stock oi
tree engrafted, being partly of both kinds, may
leceive the sap of the stock on both sides.
If this artificial graft takes and grows, which
frequently happens, the two parts of which it
consists will gradually unite and incorporate,
and become a tree, whose fruit, 0}i the branches
shooting from the touted buds, and pa?'ta/a?ig of
both natures y will be on one side sweet, and
on the other sour. A friend of mine particu-
larly examined an apple of this kind, which on
one side exactly resembled a winter apple,
called the Rhode Island Greening, but on the
opposite side was of a different colour and
appearance, lie was afsured that this apple
was from a tree composed in the manner be-

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 227

fore mentioned, of grafts from a Rhode Island
Greening, and a common sweet apple. In
the first volume of the memoirs of the Ame-
rican Academy, page 386, there is an account
of an apple-tree which produced fruit of this
singular kind.

53. On the Threshing Mill*,

Mefsrs. Edes and Nichols, of Elm, m
the Isle of Ely, have had a threshing mill,
built by Mr. AVigfull, of Lynn, which they
have used for four seasons. It was originally
made for four horses, but afterwards altered
for six. It cost onehundred guineas. Threshes,
with ease, 15 to 20 quarters of wheat; 25 to
35 of oats in a day, and would do more. Re-
quires two women, three boys, and two men.
It performs its work with every sort of grain,
so much to their satisfaction, that they are
now building a second at another farm. It
was found to exceed the flail so much, that
trying the straw of two mens threshing in a
day and a half, one bushel of clean wheat
was gained.

* By A. Young, Esq.

228 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

54. The progrefsive Rate of Amelioration of Wool bj/
the Spanish Crofs*.

The first crofs of a new breed gives to the
lamb half of the ram's blood, or 50 per cent.;
the second, 7i ditto ; the third, 87 ditto ; and
the fourth, 9S| ditto; at which period it is
said, that if the ewes have been judiciously
selected, the difference of wool between the
original stock and the mixed breed is scarcely
to be discerned by the most able practitioners.
This is an object of the greatest magnitude,
when we consider the difference in price be-;-
tween the English and Spanish wool.

55. On Parsnips f.

The Earl of Romney tried an acre of
parsnips at the moat; and his succeli was
such, as to give him reason to think the cul-
ture highly profitable. He gave them to his
cows, and these yielded milk in an uncommon
quantity, and better than by any other food
he had tried. The cows were as eager for this
food as for oil cake.

• By Dr. Parry.

t By A. Young, Esq.

CEORGICAL ESSAYS. 229

57. On Stra-jD Hay *.
The second cut of clover, except that cut
very early, is often totally lost. Aline, this
present year, would have been spit-dung, had
it not been carried mere grafs, and mixed
with some oat straw, saved for the purpose.
This plan of management I drew from last
year's experience and observation. It is ad-
visable to save a -stack of oats until summer, as
the second cut of clover is at best precarious.
By this management, the straw is converted
mto hay, and the clover, in case of dripping
weather, is saved from the dunghill. The
cows eat the little which was mixed last year,
as greedily as they did middling hay. Though
the clover may be mixed full of sap, it should
be jierfectly free from water-wet, as that
would occasion the hay to become mouldy-
By this plan 15 s. worth of straw is con-
verted into 50 s. worth of hay, besides, per-
haps, saving the second cut of clover from the
dung-hill.

hi. On TaUoza-Chandkrs Graves f.
A FARMER in Surrey used graves from the

• By Mr. Marshall.
t By A. Young, Esq.

Volume VI. Q

250 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

Tallow-Chandlers, with very great succefs on
a sandy soil : ten cwt. per acre, at 3 s. per
cwt. have had this year an effect for turnips
that is extraordinary. Laid on the poorest
part of a field, they have pushed forwards
the crop beyond the best soil in it j and ren-
dered it so very superior, that I do not con-
ceive any common drefsing of the richest
dung would have exceeded, nor any common
manuring equalled it. The graves were tried
on two fields, and the effect was the same in
both.

58. Hou^ fo collect Materials for Maimre •.

1. Stack all your hay at home. 2. Chop
your stubbles. 3. Cut up all the fern, rushes,
nettles, thistles, and weeds, that grow in the
lanes, and cast them green into the fold yard.
4. Rake up all the leaves that fall from the
trees, and carry them home for littering the
stables and cow-houses. 5. Enrich your com-
post dung-hills with the blood and offal of the
s.laughter-house, together with the cut-up car-
cafses of animals that die upon the farm.
6. Let no excrementitious matters go to waste.

" By A. Hunter, M. D.

GEORGICAL ESSAYS 231

7. If an arable farm, be careful of the dung of
the pigeon-house, and poultry-yard, and pre-
serve it for the top-drefsing of your wheat in
the spring. On top-drefsings much depends.
Men who are capable of making such pro-
vision for their lands, will be sure to find a
grateful return on the part of the soil ; and
until they can bring themselves to a just
feeling of the propriety of these directions,
they must not bestow upon themselves the ho-
nourable appellation of ^' Husbandmen," for
in fact they are no better than " Labourers."

59. On laying land down to grafs *.

For laying down land to either meadow
or pasture, the common practice is to sow
hay-seeds, which are the sweepings of hay-
lofts, procured at from lOd. to Is. 3d. per
bushel. These are sown in the quantity of
about ten or twelve bushels per acre, and ten
or twelve pounds of white clover, under
barley, or on land that has been made per-
fectly clean by a summer fallow.

By this mode it frequently happens that
very bad sorts of grafses are raised, and

By Mr. John Boys.

Q2

252 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

instead of good grafses free from weeds, every
kind of rubbish is introduced that no future
care can eradicate. It is, therefore, a more
judicious method, and indeed the only good
one, until the best sorts of grafses are more
generally cultivated for sale, to save for seed
a piece of fine old meadow that is known to
abound in the best sorts of grafs, by letting
it stand about three or four weeks longer than
it should, when intended to be mown for
hay. When it is mown and ripe, let it be
thrashed on a sail-cloth in the field, and im-
mediately sown upon a piece of land intended
for the new pasture ; which should, by a
good summer fallow, be brought into fine tilth
to receive the seed. This, with ten or twelve
pounds of white clover, will make an excellent
meadow. The culture, with the turn-wrest
plough, leaves the land so perfectly clean
that no other instructions are necefsary beyond
harrowing the seed in and frequently rolling
the land until the grafs be well matted, and
the land becomes firm enough to bear the
tread of cattle.

•^ 60. To destroy Thistles*.

The best way to destroy thistles in high-

• By Mr. Boys.

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 233

ways, and on grafs lands, is to let them alone
till they are in full bloom, and then to mow
them with a scythe ; for if they are cut when
young, they produce fresh shoots from the
sides of each plant ; but when mown in full
bloom, the stem is hollow, by which the rain
water and dews descend into the heart of the
plant, and it soon dies.

61. On steeping Seed Wheat *.

In order to prevent wheat from being
smutty or slain, brine, made of sufficient
strength to swim an eg^, or instead of that,
stale urine, has been generally used j in these
the seed is put, and after being well stirred
about, and the light grains that float to the
surface have been skimmed off, it is taken
out, and mixed with a little fresh slaked
lime ; this forms a coat on the surface of the
grain, and by imbibing the moisture, makes
it immediately fit for sowing. Neverthelefs,
a considerable inconvenience attends steeps
in precarious seasons of sowing ; for if the
weather should be such, as to prevent the
seed thus steeped from being sown within

By Mr. John Tuke.

Q3

234 GEORGICAL ESSAYS*-

two or three days after it has been preparedi
the vegetation of the seed will be injured. A
farmer in Devonshire made a valuable disco-
very a few years ago, of the means by which this
disease is propagated, and of the cure for it,
which he proved by experiment on my farm,
as well as at several other places, to my full
satisfaction. As the remedy is perfectly
simple, it is the more desirable that the
practice should be known and adopted, no-
thing more being required than that the wheat
should be thoroughly washed, and in several
waters, if it appear necefsary. He proved the
effect of it in the following manner : he took
a small quantity of wheat of my own growth,
not entirely free from the disease, then mixing
some powder of the smut with two-thirds of
it, he divided these again into two parts, one
of which he washed clean, after which the
three samples were sown in three rows in my
garden. The result was, that the row of
washed corn was perfectly free from smut j
the row of smutted corn, not washed, was ge-
nerally smutty ; and that which was sown in
its original state, had a few smutted ears in
it. I have continued this practice ever since,
and have not known it fail. Whatever may
be the original cause of the disease, the

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 235

above experiment proves, that it is continued
by some portion of the smutty plant ad-
hering to the seed.

62. On the construction of habitatiom for Laboitrers'* .

The seven following principles may be
considered as the means of obviating any in-
conveniences to which cottages, as usually
built, are liable.

1st, The cottage should be dry and healthy ;
this is effected by keeping the floor sixteen or
eighteen inches above the natural ground •\ :
by building it clear of banks, on an open spot
of ground, that has a declivity or fall from the
building, by having the rooms not lefs than
eight feet high ; an height that will keep
them airy and healthy ; and by avoiding
having chambers in the roof.

* By Mr. J. Wood.

f For want of this precaution, I have always observed,
that in wet summers, and throughout the whole winter,
the walls sucked up (if I may be allowed the exprefsion)
the water, and are damp fur at least a yard high ; and
this happens not only where the walls are thin, but even
in buildings where they are thick,

5 Q'l

236 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

2dly, Warm^ cheerful^ and comfortable. In
order to attain these points the wall should be
of a sufficient thicknefs (if of stone, not lefs
than sixteen inches ; if of brick, at least a
brick and a half) to keep out the cold of the
■winter, or the excefsive heat of the summer.
The entrance should be skreened * that the
room, on opening the door, might not be ex-
posed to the open air; the rooms should receive
their light from the east or the south f, or
from any point betwixt the east and the
south ; for if they receive their light from the
north, they will be cold and cheerlefs ; if
from the west, they will be so heated by the
summer's afternoon sun, as to become com-
fortlefs to the poor labourer after an hard
day's work ; whereas, on the contrary, re-
ceiving the light from the east or the south,
they wi]l be always warm and cheerful ; so
like the f.^elings of men in a higher sphere,
are tho?^e of tlie poor cottager, that if his ha-
bitation be warm, cheerful and comfortable.

* This circumstance must be particularly a(,tended
to, in those rooms where there is intended to be a bed.

f At first view tiiis niicety may appear trifling,
bat on mature deliberation will prove of very material

consequence.

GEORCICAL ESSAYS. 237

he will return to it with gladnefs, and abide in
it wi.th pleasure.

3dly, Convenient ; by having a porch or
shed, to skreen the entrance, and to hold the
labourer's tools ; by having a shed to serve as
a pantry, and store-place for fuel ; by having
a privy * for cleanlinefs and decency's sake;
by a proper disposition of the windows, doors,

* This convenience will answer many good ends, but
in nothing more than being an introduction to cleanlinefs.
In the account of the Voyage to the South Sea, published
by Dr. Havykesworth, speaking of the inhabitants of
New Zealand, is the following; "In personal delicacy,
" they were not equal to our friends at Otaheite, for the
*' coldnefs of the climate did not so often invite them to
*' bathe, but we saw in them one instance of cleanlinefs,
*' in which they excelled them, and of which, perhaps,
" there is no instance in any other Indian nation; Qvtiy
" house, or every cluster of three or four houses, was
•' furnished with a priyy, so that the ground was everv
" where clean. ^* Wi>at a reflection is this on the
greatest part of the inhabitants of Britain, to be exceeded
in neatnefs in any one point, by that barbarous race of
people the New Zealanders? I could mention many
large and opulent towns, particularly on the sea coasts,
nay some large cities, where there are but few such
conveniences, for want of which the streets are per-
fect Jakes ; to the annoyance of both inhabitant* and
strangers.

238 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

and chimneys ; by having the stairs, where
there is an upper floor, not lefs than three feet
widfe ; the rise, or height, not more than eight
inches^ and the tread, or breadth, not lefs than
iiine inches ; and, lastly, by proportioning the
size of the cottage, to the family that is to in-
habit it J there should be one lodging-room
for the parents, another for the female, and a
third for the male children 3 it is melancholy
to see a man and his wife, and sometimes half
a dozen children, crowded together in the
•ame room, nay often in the same bed ; the
horror is still heightened, and the incon^
vcniency increased, at the time the woman is
in child-bed, or in case of illnefs, or of death ;
indeed whilst the children are young, under
nine years of age, there is not that offence to
decency, if they sleep in the same room with
their parents, or if the boys and girls sleep
together, but after that age they should be
kept apart*.

* I am aware that the statute of the 5 Eliz. concerning
tlie apprenticing poor children, and compelling adults to
go out to service, will be here objected to me; but the
©bjection soon vanishes when we consider, first, that it
may be policy, in many cases, to let the children live at
home with their parents till they are grown up, parti-

georgical essays. 259

4thly, Cottages should not be more than
twelve feet wide in the clear*, being the
greatest width that it would be prudent to
venture the rafters of the roof with the collar-
pieces only f, without danger of spreading the
walls ; and by using collar-pieces, there caa
be fifteen inches in height of the roof thrown

cularly in the manufacturing countries ; where the trade
of the father will be more carefully taught the chil-
dren, whose earnings often, nay generally, contribute to
the better maintenance of the family. Secondly, the
power given to the parish officers by that act, is very
much circurascpibed, and is confined merely to their
own parishes; indeed they may, if they can find proper
roasters in other parishes, bind out their orphan poor,
and the children of such poor as are willing to part with
them ; but this must be done by consent of the magis-
trates, who should be very careful hgw they take the
burden off one parish, and lay it on another.

* Twelve feet is a width sufficient for a dwelling,
that is to be deemed a cottage; if it be wider, it
approaches too near to what I could call a house for a
superior tradesman; besides, it would require longer
and stronger timbers, girders to the floors and roof, and
consequently greatly enhance the expense; a circum-
stance one would wish in all buildings to avoid.

f A collar piece, is that piece of wood which ties the
rafters together at some height above the wall plate, and
is generally tailed into the rafters.

240 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

into the upper chambers, which will render
dormer windows usclefs*.

5lhly, Cottages should be always built in
pairs, either at a little distance from one ano-
ther, or close adjoining, so as to appear one
building, that the inhabitants may be of afsist-
ance to each other, in cafe of sicknefs or any
other accident.

6thly, As a piece of economy, cottages
should be built strong, and with the best of
materials, and these materials well put to-
gether j the mortar must be well tempered
and mixed, and lime not spared j hollow
walls bring on decay and harbour vermin 3
and bad, sappy timber soon reduces the cot-
tage to a ruinous state ; although I would by
no means have the cottages fine, yet I re-
commend regularity, which is beauty; regu-
larity will render them ornaments to the
country, instead of their being at present dis-
aigreeable objects.

• Because the room being six feet and ten inches
high to the top of the wall plate, there will be sufficient
height to make a window in the side wall, under the
plate.

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 241

Tthly, A piece of ground should be allotted
to every cottage *, proportionable to its size ;
the cottage should be built in the vicinity of a
spring of water, a circumstance to be much
attended to ; and if there be no spring, let
there be a well.

On the foregoing seven principles, I re-
commend all cottages to be built f ; they may
be divided into four clafses or degrees : first,
cottages with one room ; secondly, cottages
with two rooms j thirdly, cottages with three

• This will hold good in the country, wliere ground
is not of so great a value, but in towns we must be con-
tent w:th a small outlet behind.

f I cannot more properly than in this place observe,
that near Dorchester, in Dorsetshire, there has been
lately erected a row of cottages for the accomnaodation
of adjoining farms, in which there has not been the least
attention paid, either to the principles of sound building,
or to decency or conveniency. The entrances are from,
the west, and not skreened ; the windows are to the
same point; the cottage is 17 4. feet wide in the clear, and
the whole triangular space of the roof occupied as a
chamber. The consequence is, that the walls, wlricli
have not been built more than three years, are already
considerably spread, and must in a short time fall down;
the poor inhabitants told me that they could scarcely

243 GEORGICAL ESSAYS,

rooms ; and fourth]}', cottages with four rooms.
In the first volume of Agricultural Communi-
cations, there are plans of each of thos^
kinds of cottages.

63. On the application of Manure to Sandy Soils*,

Manures put upon sand-land when under
tillage, should not be ploughed in, but laid
on the top, and harrowed in with the seed ;
for if the manure be a compost of a different
nature, its specific gravity is generally more,
and it soon sinks sufficiently deep ; and by
being mixed with the seed, it gives vigour to
the vegetation of it, and supports it through

support the heat of these rooms in the summer, nnd that
they were quite frozen in the winter. The indecency
of one chamber for a large family is here very striking ;
and what adds to the shameiefsnefs of it, was the parti-
tions between house and house being nothing more than
thin rough boards, not jointed ; and yet the rent paid
for each cottage is 52 s. a year. It is a pity that
gentlemen, who build cottages for the accommodation of
their labourers, did not study stability for their own sakes,
and conveniency and decency for the sake of the inhabi-
tants; for, believe me, the poor man wishes for con-
veniency, but knows not how to remedy himself, and
woiJd be decent, was it in his po\fer.
• By Mr. Greenall.

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 243

its growth, by following the fibres of the roots
as they strike into the land. I need not re-
mark, that, previous to laying down any
kind of land to grafs, it is necefsary to make
it perfectly clean ; when it is so, it should have
a good drefsing of manure harrowed in along
with the seed.

64. On Paring and Burning *.
When land is pared and burned, I hold it

a good and profitable practice to give it a
drefsing of compost earth, and to spread the
ashes and it together while they are yet warm,
and immediately to plough them under. The
ashes impregnate the compost with their saline
virtues, and the compost replaces the soil de-
stroyed by the fire.

65. On the Culture of Turnips^.

On comparing the drill with the broadcast
system of cultivating turnips, J feel no hesita-
tion in giving the drill system the preference ;
which opinion is gaining fast amongst my
neighbours, who have had an opportunity of
comparing the two methods. To say nothing

* By Mr. Greenall.
t By Dr. Campbell.

244 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

of the superior, neat, and workman-like ap-
pearance which a field of drilled turnips ex-
hibits in all its stages, there are many cir-
cumstances which contribute to give it a
superiority over the broadcast.

The first is, the greater security of the crop
from the ravages of the fly. When dung is
spread at random over a field, a part will re-
ceive a greater proportion of it than is ne-
cefsary, and another a smaller. Should dry
and hot weather come on immediately after
the sowing, the dung that is exposed to the
influence of the sun will be dried up, and a
great part of its juices, and the volatile alkali
which it contains, will be exhaled and lost.
The seeds that fall in the intervals betwixt
the dung, or where there is a deficiency of it,
will languish, or perhaps be cut off by the fly
or snail, and at any time will never attain a
full size. In tlie case of the drill method,
the dung being buried in the bottom of the
furrows, is excluded from all evaporation, and
the seed, being deposited directly above the
dung, is, by the warmth which proceeds from
it, brought into immediate vegetation ; and
the young roots, as soon as the seed germi-
nates, striking into the dung, occasion so rapid

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 24-5

a growth, that in a few days the plants pafs
into the rough leaf, and get beyond the risk
of injury from the fly, slug, or whatever ver-
min have a tendency to prey upon them in
their weak state. It would appear that the
weak and sickly plants are particularly the
objects of these destroyers, rather than the
luxuriant and healthy. Vegetables in a cer-
tain state of decay, and of a yellow hue, are
most sought after and preyed upon by slugs
in a garden ; and I have taken notice that
some turnips, from seeds accidentally dropj-cd
in the intervals of the drills where there was
no manure, have exhibited a sickly hue, and
have been preyed upon by some insects,
whilst the vigorous plants in the drills es-
caped. In the course of the last three years
that I have cultivated turnips, in seasons
where we have experienced the extremes of
wet and drought on their coming out of the
ground, I have not lost a single plant by the
fly ; which I am inclined to attribute to the
rapid growth of the plants from the causes
above enumerated.

Another advantas^e arises from the beln<r
able to stir and horse-hoe the land in the in-
tervals of the drills J by which means the

Volume VI . R

246 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

weeds are more early and completely de-
stroyed, at the same time that the ground is
more effectually opened.

60. On the Course of Crops*,
Upon my farm, which is of a sandy nature
and without stones, the course is, first year,
svvarth ploughed up for oats j second, buck-
wheat ; third, turnips ; fourth, oats, with
grafs seeds, viz. whke clover, trefoil and ray-
grafs. To remain three or four years. My
reason for introducing a crop of buck-wheat
after the first crop of oats, is, the excellent
order in which the land turns up when worked
for the succeeding crop of turnips ; and those
two crops coming in succefsion, both of which
may be considered as fallow, the land is in
fine order for laying down to grafs with a
crop of corn. When a field is intended for
buck-wheat, it must be made very fine by re-
peated stirrings. About the first week in
Xune is the best time for sowing it, but when
cultivated in a large scale, we may begin a
little earlier. Being a tender plant, severe
frosts will entirely destroy it, so that w^e ought
to be very cautious not to sow too early.

* By Lieut. Col. Vavasour.

CEORGICAL ESSAYS. 247

M^hen in seed Jeaf, I have known a whole
ficJd destroyed in the montli of May. JMy
soil being light and free from stones, I have
found great benefit from the use of the cul-
tivator. After the land has been once ploughed
and harrowed, this instrument may be in-
troduced to pulverize the ground, and to de-
stroy the weeds. Six or seven acres may be
worked in a day, with ease, by one man who
drives three horses a-breast. In such soils as
mine, I believe two horses in six may be
saved by the use of this excellent imple-
ment,

67. On Buck-wheat Hay*.

The buck-wheat is mown when in full
flower, and after being suffered to lie -a few
days in swarth to dry, it is turned over. After
lying a few days longer, it is carried to the
stack in a much greener state than is com-
monly ventured upon Avith clover. The bot-
tom of the stack should be laid with faggots,
to admit the air, and upon them some straw
should be put ; then a layer of buck-wheat,
about a foot in thicknefs ; upon this, a layer

B}' Lieut. Col. Vavasour.
R2

248 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

of straw about four inches in thicknefs, and
so on, buck-wheat and straw in alternate
layers until the stack is completed. In con-
sequence of the drynefs of the straw, the
moisture of the buck-wheat is absorbed,
and the danger of heating prevented. I con-
sider the straw as much improved by the
procefs, in consequence of its having imbibed
the sap of the buck-wheat, which must render
it more nutritious. After buck-wheat mown
for hay, a clear crop of wheat may generally
be gained, as the land will be in fine tilth.
The straw of buck-wheat, grown for seed, I
find to be as good for cattle in the fold-yard
as any other straw. Pigs do well on buck-
wheat mown green, but it frequently has an
intoxicating quality, more particularly when
given to young pigs.

68. On laying Barn Floors*.

About twenty years ago I laid a barn floor
with oak beams, fourteen inches square, and
three inch oak plank ; the plank was fourteen
inches hollow from the ground, and the beams
about two feet asunder -, in two years after.

• By Mr. Chambers.

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 249

some part of the plank broke down, without
any other use than common thrashing upon ;
I examined the reason, and found the under-
side of the plank decayed by the damp rot,
nearly through ; upon which I had the floor
taken up, and found all the planks in the
same situation, and the beams almost totally
perished ; upon which I consulted a very ex-
perienced architect, who advised me to lay
the next floor still higher than the former,
and if pofsible to admit a circulation of air
under the same, as the situation of the barn
must be very subject to the damp rot. I re-
laid the floor with new beams and plank of
the same thicknefs as the former ; the beams
were fixed upon brick pillars, fourteen inches
high, so that the floor lay twenty-eight inches
hollow J and under each door-sill was two
grates, about one foot square each, that gave
a current of air under the floor through the
barn, and by the beams being laid upon sup-
porters of brick, the whole floor was hollow
except the nine inch pillars.

The current of air was not throuirh the
middle of the floor, as the doors were more
to one side than the other. In about two
years the planks that were farthest from the

R 3

250 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

pafsage of air fell down, all reduced to rotten
wood, but about three-eighths of an inch at
the upper-side ; upon taking up the floor, I
found the beams nearly reduced to rotten
wood, except those that lay near the current
of air, which were very sound, as was also
the plank that lay over them in that situa-
tion.

After these trials in the usual way of laying
barn floors, I determined upon the following
experiment : — to lay the next floor solid, in
lime and sand mortar^ upon which I removed
every part of the former materials, and fixed
fresh beams upon a spreading of mortar, at
about six teet asunder, so as to suit the piecing
of the planks to pin to ; between each beam
I filled the space with stones and thin mortar,
that the whole was made solid with the upper
sides of the beams ^ when this preparation was
sufficiently dry, I culled the best of the re-
maining planks from each of the former floors,
and before the workmen laid down each plank,
the space that I covered was spread Vv'ith fine
mortar, even upon the beams ; then the plank
was laid down and pinned ; so that every
hollow part, either in the beams, or decayed
parts in the planks, was filled solid with

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 251

the mortar. The floor has now laid about
sixteen years without any amendment, except
one of the planks being so weak in sound
wood, that it started from the pins a year ago;
after taking the same up and examining the
under-side, I found such of the plank that was
sound when last laid down, was still per-
fectly so, and the rotten part was firmer and
stronger than when laid down.

I have mentioned the above circumstance
to several workmen, but few will follow the
practice without peremptory orders, which I
have followed up, with twenty different floors
in sixteen years ; some of oak, and some of
deal planks, in different situations, and all ap-
pear as if they would stand for ages, unlefs
they wear through from the upper side.

About ten years ago I ordered a floor to be
laid with ash plank, (in the method above) as
oak could not be got without cutting dow'n
oak trees to considerable lofs; the ash was
fallen, sawed up, and laid down in the floor
immediately, as the saw had left it; the joints
did not open much before the last summer,
upon which I had the floor taken up an I re-
Jaid, as the plank must be well seasoned in

R4

252 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

nine years use ; the under-side of which was
as sound as when first put down.

There are other advantages by laying barn
floors solid with lime mortar, as a barrier
againt rats and mice, worms, &c. prevents
the joints from wear, by quivering, &c. and
also prevents any lofs in the corn through the
joints.

I am pretty confident that the same method
will hold good in laying ground floors with
boards, in gentlemens' houses, that I have
frequently seen them rot and eat through
with worms in a few years. Both of these
maladies the lime mortar will prevent, and
will make the floor warmer also.

It will hold good to cover the lath and pin,
or nail, in the under-side of slate and tiled
roofs, by starting or rough-drawing the same,
so as to cover the lath, &:c. close. My first
observation of this simple method was about
twenty years ago, being witnefs to the pulling
down of an old timbered house, dated 1564;
between each beam were pieces of ash wood,
with split ash and hazel laths, and plastered
on each side with lime or plaster mortar;

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 253

where the plaster was free from cracks, the
laths and the bark of them was as sound and
fresh as if they had not been cut down three
months, but where the cracks had admitted
the air, every part of the lath, &c. was re-
duced to nothing. I have lost no opportunity
since my first observation, to examine ail
old ruins, and w-here I have found any old
timber within those walls that had been run
with thin mortar, the same has been sound and
fresh, though the building has been in ruins
for two centuries.

69. Oji Hedge-row Planting*.

There is a general prejudice against plant-
ing trees in hedges, as being supposed to in-
jure the land. Whatever may be the case
with regard to corn, which I apprehend to be
much exaggerated, it does not appear to be
injurious to grafs j and there cannot be, in
my opinion, a better or more convenient me-
thod, for many purposes, than always to leave
a head-land in grafs, as may be seen in many
parts of Hertfordshire, under the name of
hedge-greens. It is obvious that a great

• By Robert Lowe, Esq.

254 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

quantity of timber may be raised in hedge-
rows, which is better for various purposes,
than what is raised in woods, particularly com-
pafs timber, as knees, crooks, &c. the most
valuable pieces in ship-building.

I believe I may venture to affirm, that
trees so planted are likely in twenty-five to
forty years, to equal the value of the land,
whilst in their growth they have taken up no
land from other purposes. I recommend seed-
ling oaks, or acorns, to be put down at a foot
or two from the quickwood in all new inclo-
sures; and next to oaks, elms, but that species
which does not shoot out suckers.

70. A Speculation^.

It is my intention, in March or April next,
to sow upon an acre of land in the centre of
a large grafs field, about fourteen pounds of
white clover seed. The close was well
manured from the fold-yard in November
last, and has never yet been harrowed. After
sowing, and harrowing with a common har-
row, to scratch the swarth a little, I mean to

By William Calvert, Esq.

GEORGieAL ESSAYS. 235

make it fine by means, of a thorn harrow,
and wait the result of my experiment, which
is intended to show how far grafs land may
be improved without ploughing.

7 1 . On large and small Inclosures *.
Small inclosures of grafs land answer much
better than the same quantity in large ones
(except in pastures for sheep, which are re-
quired to be large for the benefit of cool
breezes in summer). I constantly see small
closes, surrounded with good white-thorn
hedges, bear a greater burden of herbage in
proportion, than large ones^ and the reason
seems evident. Independent of the manure
deposited in the shade by cattle when shelter-
ing, in spring, when the cold sharp winds
blow off from the surface of the ground the
warm atmospheric air occasioned by the re-
flected rays of the sun, in the same manner
-they blow off the circumambient warmth,
caused by perspiration, from our bodies, and
render us more sensible of cold than in still
calm wcatner, though the thermometer points
the same degree. The wind, by having to
pafs the interwoven branches of the thorn-

By William Calveit, E^q.

25^6 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

hedge of a small inclosure, is not able to re-
sume its former violent current before it be-
comes again broken and divided by another
fence of the same kind. In summer, when
much hot and dry weather prevails, the hedges
shade off the suh and wind, so as to prevent
the moisture left by showers and dews from ex-
halation ; of consequence, vegetation is more
encouraged than where the ground is more
parched.

12. On the Rut a Bag a *.

Mr. Daikin, on the tenth of May, 1794.
sowed about four acres wuth the seed of
Ruta Baga, two pounds per acre, on good
sand land, worth twenty shillings an acre,
manured as for turnips, and having been
ploughed four or five times ; the rest of the
field, to the amount of nine acres in all, with
common turnip, and turnip-rooted cabbage, all
broadcast. The Ruta Baga was not transplant-
ed, but hoed out nine inches asunder, at three
hoeings, at seven shillings and sixpence an
acre : no other culture. In November he
began to use them for horses, giving at first
clover and rye-grafs, hay, oats, and beans ;

* By Robert Lowe, Esq.

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 257

but finding that the horses did well upon
them, lett off all corn, and continued them, on
hay, and the roots only ; fifteen were thus fed
for about two months, were constantly hard
worked, and preserved themselves in very
good condition. Mr. Daikin is so well con-
vinced that in this application they were
worth thirty pounds an acre, that he would
in future, if he could not get them otherwise,
rather give that sum per acre for one or two
acres, than not have them for this use. They
lost their leaves entirely when the frost set in ;
but the roots were not in the least affected,
though the common turnips in the same field
were totally destroyed. Pafsengers pafsing
through the field cut holes in them, which
did not let the frost injure them, nor were
those hurt which were damaged bv cattle
biting them. Some came to the weight of
16 pounds, and Air. Daikin thinks the average
of the crop 8 pounds, and much to exceed
in tonnage per acre common turnips. Mr.
Daikin gave them also to hogs, cattle and
sheep. They are excellent for hogs; and
sheep being let into the field before the com-
mon turnips were destroyed, gave so decided
a preference to the Ruta Baga, that they
would not settle on the common turnips.

258 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

while the others were to be had. The method
of giving thein to horses, is to cut off the tap-
root, to wash them, and to cut them roughly
with a perpendicular hoe, and then giving
them directly, without keeping them to dry.
The horses ate them with avidity, and seemed
to prefer them to corn. Their qualities seem
to be singular, as they bind horses instead of
relaxing them, as other roots do. One mare
was kept entirely upon them and straw, work-
ed every day, did well, and never looked
better ; this mare was more bound by them
than the rest. They have a strong effect upon
making the coats fine; and one or two horses
affected by the grease, were cured by them,
as they act as a strong diuretic. In this
mode of application, one acre maintained
fifteen horses about two months; and Mr.
Daikin is so well convinced of the utility of
the plant, as well as many of his neighbours,
that he intends, and they also, to increase the
cultivation much. Mr. Daikin suspects that
there are two sorts of Ruta Baga, because
some upon cutting are white within, but in
general yellow ; otherwise of the same ex-
ternal appearance. The yellow is the best.
This valuable plant should be sown about a
month before other turnips.

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 259

73. OnSkegs*.
There is a species of oat favena mtda, Linn.)
the cultivation of which seems to be confined
to the counties of Nottingham and Cornwall.
Eight strikes are sown. They yield a crop
nearly double in measure to other oats sown
upon the same land, but not more than equal
in weight. They will grow upon the poorest
land, where no other grain will grow. They
are seldom brought to market, but generally
kept by farmers for their own use, and are
esteemed a sweet food for horses, being often
given to them in the straw. Upon poor
weak lands, when the hay-seeds are quite
worn out, and the farmer cannot afford a
sufficiency of manure for turnips, it may be
convenient for him to know, that upon sucli
land he may profitably obtain a crop of skegs.

74. 0}i the Improvement of Vegetables f .

As in the animal world " fortes creantur

fortibuSy' so may not something of the same

kind be observed among vegetables? If this

analogy may be depended on, I should re-

* By A. Hunter, M. D.
t Bj A. Hunter, M. D.

260 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

commend the finest and boldest ears of all
kinds of grain, and pods of pulse, to be gather-
ed by the hand, and to be made a stock for
future plants. I am inclined to think that
such an attempt in the hand of a careful and
judicious cultivator, would be productive of
much good. The potatoe oat, so remarkable
for its weight, probably had its origin from a
selection of this kind.

75. On the Purif cation of Gray Marine Salt,
without Expense'^,

Gray, or unrefined marine sah, is covered
with a thin earthy crust, which alters more or
lefs its whitenefs ; and it is of some conse-
quence, both in regard to cleanlinefs and
health, to purify it from this heterogeneous
substance which covers all the faces of its
crystals.

Hitherto this salt has been purified only by
solution, filtration, or precipitation, according
as the operation is performed on a large or a
small scale, and then by evaporation. This
method requires time, wood or charcoal, and
proper vefsels. I have thought that a procefs

• By Mons. Pagot Descharmes.

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 261

that requires neither fire nor particular vefsels,
is attended with no expense, may be practised
at all times, and is within the reach of every
one, might be of general utility. My method
is as follows:

Take four ounces of gray salt, and, if dry,
besprinkle it gently with water till it be only
what is called moist 5 but it will be very sel-
dom necefsary to have recourse to this opera-
tion. Put the salt into the corner of a table
napkin, or piece of linen cloth, and form the
cloth into a knot or bag, which you must hold
in one hand, while witli the other you rub and
shake the salt against the inside of the cloth
for the space of half an hour. Tlien shift the
salt to another place of the cloth, succefsively
repeating the same manoeuvre six, seven, or
eight times, according as the salt is more or lefs
gray. After the salt has been rolled for the
first time, the cloth begins to exhibit spots
occasioned by the earth which the salt de-
posits, and of which the intensity sensibly de-
creases at each change of place till they en-
tirely disappear. In general the salt must be-
sprinkled every time that its place is changed.
The bleaching will be accelerated by pounding
the salt slightly before it is besprinkled.
Volume VI, S

?62 GEOREICAL ESSAY1S.

After two or three aspersions and rubbings,
the salt is, in genera), as pure and white as
that refined, according to the u^ual method,
by solution and evaporation. The lofs in
both cases is nearly the same ; that is to say,
about an eighth, when the salt is dry, and
when care has been taken at each change of
place to shake off the grains which adhere to
the cloth. It is, for the most part, the whitest
salt which adheres in this manner ; and it may
be shaken off without fear, as the earth de-
posited on the cloth cannot detach itself till
the cloth is dry. The gray salt of commerce
contains in general 12^ per cent, of foreign
matters, nearly one half of which is water,
and about as much earth. This procefs, on
account of its simplicity, I consider as likely
to become useful for domestic purposes.

76. On HancUWeeding Wheat*.
In the month uf April I hand-weeded 5
a crop of wheat, which was to all appearance
smothered by weeds, particularly by hariff, or
herriff, so as that very little wheat was to be
seen. I ordered it to be harrowed, which
was done till I perceived that the harrows

* By :Mr. Calvert.

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 263

drew up more corn than I wished, still leaving
many weeds. The soil a light silted land.
I then desisted, and employed a number of
women to creep over the field, with directions
to pluck up every weed, however small ; they
obeyed my directions pretty well, at the ex-
pense of five shillings per acre ; and, notwith-
standing there scarcely appeared any wheat
after the operation, in about three weeks the
crop looked well, and became sufficiently pro-
ductive, yielding nearly four quarters per acre.
The wheat weighed sixty-five pounds per
Winchester bushel.

77. On forming Boads on Clay^ or Wet Bottoms *.

First throw the soil from the sides, leaving
a groove in the middle for the materials, be-
ginning with kid or brush-wood plentifully,
then stones and gravel : if the gravel be very
sharp and good, there is no occasion to round
the road. Even a concave surface is found to
answer very well ; but where the materials
are tender, it may be better to round it a
little, but not so much as is frequently done.

* By Robert Lowe, Esq.

S2

264 GEORGICAI, ESSAYS.

being often dangerous, and hurtful to the
road by obliging the carriages to keep one tract.

TS. On prccuring Opium from Lettuce .

The plant which has hitherto been culti-
vated for the production of opium is the
Papaver Somnifovum, Linn, or white poppy.
It is an annual plant, from the heads of which
opium is obtained in Persia, Arabia, and other
warm regions of Asia, by making in them
longitudinal incisions, from which a milky
juice e>;iides, and which being inspifsated.
forms the officinal opium.

Jt has been long known that lettuce pofsefsej
narcotic properties ; till lately, however, none
have extracted from it a substance pofsefsing
all the properties of opium. The milky
juice from which the opium is prepared
exists in the stalk and the leaves of the plant.
The best time for collecting the milky juice is
"when the plant is beginning to seed. Be-
fore this it has not acquired its medicinal pro-
perties. It is procured in the same manner
as from the poppy, viz. by incision, with this
difference, that in the poppy the incisions are
iong-itudina], but in the lettuce thev must be
circular. The juice exudes in m.ilky drops.

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 263

which inspifsate, when it may be scraped ofF
and deposited in proper vefsels. Attempts
have been made to obtain opium from the pop-
py, by pressure, but the other juices of the
plant seem to alter it entirely. Dr. CoXj of
Philadelphia, found the lettuce opium to
answer, in the public hospital, all the pur-
poses of the eastern,

^9 . On the covered Fold *.
I RECOMMEND to gentlemen who are in
pofsefsion of parks, plantations, and lands, in
their own hands, to cause a permanent fold,
during the winter months, to be pitched in
some sheltered spot, near their woods, and to
pen their store stock in it, giving the sheep
the quantity of hay they are accustomed to
have, in racks in the fold, and littering it
every night with fresh leaves of trees, rushes,
mofs, fern, or any other similar rubbii,h that
can be collected. This turned up together in
the month of April, and mixed with about
one-sixth part of lime, rubbibh from old walls,
or any sort of ashes, will make as good a sort
of manure as can be laid on for turnips. The
quantity will be very considerable. On one

• By N. Kent, Esq.

S3

266 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

of his Majesty's farms at Windsor, I made, in
one winter, six hundred cart loads from six
hundred sheep. Every gentleman, however,
who tries this, must set out with a determina-
tion not to be defeated by the prejudice or
obstinacy of their bailiffs and shepherds, who
will endeavour to persuade them out of it, by
suggesting that it will not answer the expense,
and that it will injure the sheep, which last
will be an afsertion without the least founda-
tion of truth.

80. On the Supp&)-ts of Agricultm^e* .

In agriculture there are three persons who
have a natural dependence on each other:
the gentleman of landed property, the farmer,
and the labourer. Their degrees of interest
are different, but their connection must be
permanent, as they cannot subsist without
the aid of each other. Protection is due
from the first ; humanity from the second ,
and obedience from the third. Sound policy
dictates a due observance of this mutual ob-
ligation, and the preservation of a proportion-
ate and just scale in respect to every thing

By N. Kent, Esq.

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 267

which mutually affects the parties : a de-
parture from this, will, in the first instance,
prove detrimental to one of them, and cannot
ultimately be of any advantage to the others.

Admitting this, as every impartial man
must, and comparing the advanced price of
provisions, with the present rate of wages, and
the price of labour, the cause of the increase
of the poor rates must be obvious. I would
therefore advise every gentleman in the com-
mifsion of the peace, carefully to peruse
Fleetwood's Chronicon Preciosum, which will
show him the proportions which were ob-
served at that time; and likewise to advert to
two particular acts of parliament, framed by
the wisdom of our ancestors, viz. the fifth of
Elizabeth, chap. iv. and the first of James,
chap. vi. ; where sufiicient power is given to
regulate this important businefs.

I would advise every farmer to consider the
labourer not as an incumbrance upon him, but
as a man efsentially necefsary to carry on his
businefs, without whom he could not live, or
support his own family; but the present weak
policy has arisen from a misconception of the
utility and real importance of the labourer to
2 S 4

•268 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

sociery. No farmer will slight his horse, or
give him the lefs corn for its being dear ; if
he did, he would expect the animal to decline
in condition. Why then should the human
servant be lefs attended to ? He is, undoubt-
edly, the first sinew that puts the labour of
the farm in motion, and without which it
cannot be carried on : If, therefore, his full
earnings will not keep him, it is a duty in-
cumbent on his master to let him have a
sufficiency of corn for his family, at the same
rate by which he is paid for his labour, and
not to suffer the spirit of a poor man of this
description to be broken.

SI. On comertiiig Weeds and other Vegetable Matter
into Manure*.

The method of doing this is as simple
as, I trust, it will be found useful. It is
nothing more than green vegetable matter,
decomposed by quick, or fresh burnt lime.
A layer of the vegetable matter about a foot
thick, then a very thin layer of lime, beat
small, and so on ; first vegetable, then lime,
alternately. After it has been put together a

* By Mr. Browne.

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 269

few hours, the decomposition will begin to
take place ; and unlefs prevented, either by
a few sods, or a few forkfuls of vegetables at
hand, it will break out into a blaze, which
must at all events be prevented. In about
twenty-four hours the procefs will be com-
pleted, when you will have a quantity of ashes
ready to lay upon your land at any time you
could wish. Any, and all sorts of vegetables,
if used green, will answer the purpose ; say
weeds of every description. They will doubly
serve the farmer, as they will not only be got
at a small expense, but will in time render his
farm more valuable, by its being deprived of
all noisome weeds.

Should this composition answer the purpose,
as I flatter myself it will, a very short time
will see almost every weed destroyed ^ which
supposing to be the case, I have made mv cal-
culations with clover, grown for the purpose j
for instance, I will take one acre of clover,
which at one cutting will produce from four-
teen to eighteen tons of green vegetable matter,
and about three tons of lime ; this, when
decomposed by the above procefs, will yield
ashes sufficient to manure four acres , the
value of which I estimate at something under

270 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

four pounds ; the clover, according to the
value of land here, I will say two pounds,
which, if we take the average of the kingdom,
is too much. The lime I will also say two
pounds J but that will vary, according to the
distance of carriage. Take them together,
this will be about the average value. Now
if this is the case, and as far as I have been
able to try I find it so, how valuable must it
be to the community in general I

The ves:etables should be used as soon
after they are cut as pofsible, and lime as
fresh from the kiln as the distance will allow
of J as on these two circumstances depends
the goodnefs of the composition.

82. On Lime*.
Though contrary to the experience of the
well-informed and chemical agriculturist, lime
is, by the generality of farmers, considered as
an enricher of the soil ; and used accordingly
upon all lands, without discrimination. Fallow
after fallow is limed, yet no observations are
made, no facts attended to. I have been in
the habit of using lime upon my own

* By Charles Howard, Esq.

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 271

farm, and at first, as my neighbours did, with-
out the least knowledge of its properties j
sometimes with succefs, but very often with-
out deriving any benefit from it ; and even
in some cases I have been led to think that it
proved injurious.

Regretting my ignorance of its mysterious
powers to a profefsional gentleman in this
neighbourhood, and requesting information
as to its nature, he made me the following
very exprefsive answer: " Lime acts as a
stimulus, not as an enricher of the soil. Use
lime therefore to your land, as you would spurs
to your horse -, if he is in condition and can
go, make him ; but do not urge him beyond
his strength." To this invaluable maxim I
have since adhered, and in no one instance
have I failed of succefs. I have used lime
as recommended by Mr. Tuke, in his ex-
cellent Survey of the North Riding of York-
shire, in very large quantities, even a? much
as eight chaldrons of thirty-two bushels per
acre ; but this should be rarely repeated. On
my spring fallows, I spread the lime as soon
as it is sufficiently fallen, previous to the two
last ploughings, and harrow it in immediately;
by this means the lime becomes intimately

278 geoKgical essays.

mixed with the soil ; and a high degree of
amelioration succeeds. My practice has been,
to sow land thus limed, with rape and grafs
seeds, for which it is in a proper state ; and
from the observations made upon my farm, it
appears to be particularly eligible for this
crop ; the pasturing of which, with sheep,
exhibits the effects of lime to great advantage,
by giving it additional matter to act upon.
The seeds are luxuriant, a large quantity of
stock is consequently kept, and the whole
train of agriculture thereby improved.

I have drefsed grafs leas of three years, with
great succefs, in the manner recommended by
Mr. Henry, in the Second Volume of the
Georgical Efsays, page 58, and have also
used lime in composts with dung ; but have
not found it to answer so well when spread
alone. The lime I use is from Knottingley,
and I lav it on generally at the rate of six
.chaldrons per acre. My soil is a sandy loam
for the most part, incumbent upon a retentive
sub-soil of a marly quality. I consider this
manure as invaluable, if applied with judg-
ment, in large quantities, and not too often
repeated : it plainly appearing that greater
benefit is derived from this mode of usins: it.

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 273

than when laid on frequently in small quan-
tities. But let it ever be held in remembrance,
that " Lime acts as a stimulus, not as an en-
richer of the soil. Use lime therefore to your
land, as you would spurs to your horsey when
he is in condition and can go, make him j
but do not urge him beyond his strength."

83. On the Jpplication of Turnips*.
I HAVE usually given my turnips to dif-
ferent stock, viz. sheep and bullocks, as suited
me best at the time ; but 1 think the best
application of them is to fat sheep, who are to
eat off the fresh-stocked part, and their leav-
ings may be eaten by lean sheep that follow
them, or yearling cattle, if the land be dry
enough to bear them : when the land is damp
and poachy, the turnips should be carted off
for cattle to a dry piece of land, or a yard ad-
joining. The beasts should have hay or straw,
as much as they will eat with them. Some
years since, I made an experiment to ascer-
tain what would be the difference of giving
cattle hay or straw to cat with them, I took
twelve beasts, in the same state of fatnefs,
and which had been kept the preceding sum-

* B}- Mr. John Exter.

274 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

nier together, and tied them up in different
yards. Six had hay with the turnips, and
six had straw. The cattle fed with hay were
finished and sold in May, the others in June.
I have not repeated the experiment, as I was
satisfied from this, that it would not pay
to feed turnip stock on hay, if they are to go
to grafs after. I find turnips of great use in
rearing calves. I always give them as much
hay as they will eat with them, and never
permit them to drink, or give them any milk
after I get them to eat turnips, which they
generally take to at about ten weeks old.

I bring them to eat turnips, by keeping
them twenty-four or thirty hours without any
milk or water, and then cut the turnips into
thin slices, and put some of them into their
mouths ; this soon brings them to pick them
up from their mangers.

84. 0}i Raising Oaks *,
It is a general received opinion, that when
an oak loses its tap-root in transplanting, it
never produces another i but this I have

* By M. Fors)tb.

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 275

proved to be a mistake, by an experiment
which I made on a bed of oak plants, in the
year 1789 ; I transplanted them into a fresh
bed in the forementioned year, cutting the
tap-roots near to some of the small side-roots,
or fibres, shooting from them. In the second
year after, I headed one half of the plants
down, and left the other half to nature. In
the first season, those headed down made
shoots six feet long and upwards, and com-
pletely covered the top of the old stems, leav-
ing only a faint cicatrix, and had produced new
tap-roots upwards of two feet and a half long.
By this mode of treatment, they grow more in
one year than in six when raised in the com,-
mon way. The other half of the plants, that
were not headed down, are not one -fourth of
the size of the others. One of the former is
now eighteen feet high, and, at six inches
from the ground, measures fifteen inches in
circumference i at three feet from the ground,
ten inches ; and at six feet, nine inches and a
half; while one of the largest of the latter
measures only five feet and a half high, and
three inches and three quarters in circum-
ference, at six inches from the ground. This
is a convincing proof, that transplanting and
heading down oaks is the most succcfsful and

276 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

advantageous way of treating them ; and by-
it they are sooner out of danger from cattle,
as well as from vermin, which are frequently
very injurious to young trees.

S5. On the Age of a Horse'*.
This is easily known by his mouth, till he
comes eight, after which the usual marks
wear out. A horse, like many other brute
animals, has his teeth divided into three
ranks, viz. his foreteeth, which are flat and
smooth, his tushes, and his back-teeth. —
His back-teeth, or jaw-teeth, are called his
grinders, being those by which a horse chews
and grinds his provender, and are twenty-four
in number, twelve above, and twelve below :
they are strong double teeth with sharp
edges ; but when a horse grows old, they
wear much smoother.

The first that grow are his foal te&th, which
begin to appear a few months after he is
foaled : they are twelve in number, six above,
and six below; and are easily distinguished
from the teeth that come afterwards, by their

* By Mr. Thomas Boardman.

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 277

smallnefs and whitenefsj not unlike the fore
teeth of a man.

When the colt is about two years and a
half old, he casts the four middlemost of his
foal teeth, viz. two above and two below ;
but some do not cast any of their foal teeth
till they are near three years old. The new
teeth are easily distinguished from the foal
teeth, being much stronger, and always twice
their size, and are called the incisors or ga-
therers, being those by which a horse nips
otF the grafs, when he is feeding abroad in
the fields, or, in the house, gathers his hay
from the rack. When a horse has got these
four teeth complete, he is reckoned three years
old.

When he is about three and a half, or in
the spring before he is four years old, he casts
out four more of his foal teeth, viz. two above,
and two below, one on each side the nippers,
or middle teeth : so that when you look into
a horse's mouth, and see the two middle teeth
full grown, and none of the foal teeth, except
the common teeth, remaining, you may con-
clude he is fourthatyear, about April or May.

Volume FI. T

278 6E0RGICAL ESSAYS.

Some indeed are later colts, but that makes
little alteration in the mouth.

The tushes appear near the same time with
the four last-mentioned teeth, sometimes sooner
than these, and sometimes not till after ahorse
is full four years old : they are curved like the
tushes of other beasts, only in a young horse
they have a sharp edge all round the top,
and on both sides, the inside being some-
what grooved and flattish, inclined to ahollow-
nefs.

AVhen a horse's tushes do not appear for
some time after the foal teeth are cast, and the
new ones come in their room, it is generally
owing to the foal teeth having been pulled
out before their time, by the breeders or other
dealers in horses, to make a colt of three years
old appear like one of four, that he may be the
more saleable ; for when any of the foal teeth
have been pulled out, the others soon come
in their places ; but the tushes having none
that go before them, can never make their
appearance till their proper time, viz. when a
horse is about four, or coming four ; and there-
fore one of the surest marks to know a four-

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 279

years old horse, is by his tushes, which are
then very small, and sharp on the top and
edges.

When a horse comes five, or rather in the
spring before he is five, the corner teeth be-
gin to appear, and at first but just equal
with the gums, being filled with flesh in the
middle. The tushes are also by this time
grown to a more distinct size, though not
very large: they likewise continue rough and
sharp on the top and edges. But the corner
teeth are now most to be remarked ; they
differ from the middle teeth in being more
fleshy on the inside, and the gums generally
look rawish upon their first shooting out,
whereas the others do not appear discoloured.
The middle teeth arrive at their full sirowtli
in lefs than three weeks, but the corner teeth
grow leisurely, and are seldom much above
the gums till a horse is full five : they differ
also from the other fore teeth in this, that they
somewhat resemble a shell j and thence are
called the shell teeth, because they environ
the flesh in the middle half way round ; and
as they grow, the flesh within disappears, leav-
ing a distinct hollownefs and opennefs on the
inside. When a horse is full five, these teeth
2 T 2

280 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

are generally about the thicknefs of a crown-
piece above the gums. From five, to five and
a half, they will grov/ about a quarter of an
inch high, or more ; and when a horse is full
six, they will be near half an inch, and in
some large horses a full half-inch, above the
gums.

The corner teeth in the upper jaw fall out
before those in the under, so that the upper
corner teeth are seen before those below ; on
the contrary, the tushes in the under gums
come on before those in the upper.

When a horse is full six years old, the hol-
lownefs on the inside begins visibly to fill up,
and that which was at first fleshy, grows
into a brownish spot, not unlike the eye of a
dried garden bean, and continues so till he is
seven ; with this difference only, that the tooth
is more filled up, and the mark, or spot, be-
comes faint, and of a lighter colour. At
eight, the mark in most horses is quite worn
out, though some retain the vestiges of it a
long time ; and those who have not had a
good deal of experience, may sometimes be
deceived by taking a horse of nine or ten
years old for one of eight. It is at this time

GEORGICAL ESSAYS 281

only, when a horse is past mark, that one
can easily err in knowing the age of a horse ;
for what practices are used to make a very
young horse or colt appear older than he is,
by pulling out the foal teeth before their time,
may be discovered by feeling along the edges
where the tushes grow, for they may be felt
in the gums before the corner teeth are put
forth i whereas, if the corner teeth come in
some months before the tushes rise in the
gums, we may reasonably suspect that the foal
teeth have been pulled out at three years old.

It will, perhaps, be needlefs to mention the
tricks that are used to make a false mark in a
horse's mouth, by hollowing the tooth with a
graver, and burning a mark with a small hot
iron ; because those who are acquainted with
the true marks, will easily discover the cheat
by the size and colour of the teeth,bythe round-
nefs and bluntnefs of the tushes, by the colour
of the false mark, which is generally blacker,
and more imprefsed than the true mark, and
by many other visible tokens, which denote
the advanced age of a horse.

After the horse has pafsed his eighth year,
and sometimes at seven, nothing certain can

T3

282 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

be known by the mouth. It must, however,
be remembered, that some horses have but
indifferent mouths when they are young, and
soon lose their mark , others have their mouths
good for a long time, their teeth being white,
even, and regular, till they are sixteen years
old and upw^ards, together with many other
marks of freshnefs and vigour; but when
a horse comes to be very old, it may be
discovered by several indications, the con-
stant attendants of age, viz. his gums wear
away insensibly, leaving his teeth long and
naked at their roots : the teeth also grow yel-
lov/, and sometimes brownish. The bars of
the mouth, which, in a young horse, are al-
ways fleshy, and forrn so many distinct ridges,
are, in an old horse, lean, dry, and smooth,
with little or no rising. The eye-pits in a
young horse (except those come of old stallions)
are generally filled up with flesh, look plump
and smooth ; whereas in an old horse, they
are sunk and hollow, and make them look
ghastly, and with a melancholy aspect. There
are also other marks which discover a horse
to be very old, viz. grey horses turn white,
and many of them all over flea-bitten, except
their joints. This, however, happens some-
times later, and sometimes sooner, according

GEORGICAL ESSAYS, 283

to the variety of colour and constitution.
Black horses are apt to grow grey over their
eye-brows, and very often over a good part of
their face, especially those who have a star or
blaze fringed round with grey when they are
young. All horses when very old, sink more
or lefs in their backs; and some horses, that are
naturally long backed, grow so hollow with
age, that it is scarce pofsible to fit them with
a saddle. Of this kind are several Spanish
and Barbary horses, and many of the Danish
and Flanders breed. The joints also grow
stiff with old age, and their knees and hocks
bend so, that they are apt to trip and stumble
upon the least descent, though the way be
smooth, and no ways rugged. After which
they can be of little use to the owner.

86. O/i the Training and Pruning of Vines*.

The following is the method that I pur-
sued with some vines which were planted
against the piers of a south wall, and among
old peaches, nectarines, plumbs, 8ic.

When I took them in hand, the fruit was so
small and hard as to render it unfit to be sent

By Mr. Forsyth.

T t

284 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

to the table. The vines were trained upright,
which caused them to grow so iuxuriantly,
that the sap flowed into the branches instead
of the fruit.

In the year 1789, I let two strong branches
grow to their full length without topping
them in the summer. In 1790, I trained
them in a serpentine form, leaving about
thirty eyes on each shoot, w^hich produced
one hundred and twenty-five bunches of
grapes, weighing from one pound to a pound
and a quarter each. Every one that saw
them said, that the large ones were as fine as
forced grapes ; while the small ones produced
from branches of the same vine, trained and
pruned in the old way, were bad natural
grapes, and not above twice the size of large
currants.

More fully to prove the succefs attending
this experiment, I next year trained five plants
in the same way, allowing the shoots in-
tended for bearing wood to run to their full
length in summer, training them wherever
there was a vacancy between the old trees ;
where there was none, I ran them along the
top of the wall v/ithout topping them. Iq

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 285

winter, I trained them in a serpentine manner
so as to fill the wall as regularly as pofsible :
they were as productive as those in the
former year.

After a three years trial, I thought I was
warranted to follow the same practice with
the whole; and in the year 1798 I sent, for
the use of his Majesty and the Royal Family,
378 baskets of grapes, each basket weighing
about three pounds, without planting a single
vine more than were the preceding year, in
which I was only able to send fifty-six baskets
of the same weight, and those so bad and ill-
ripened that I wss ashamed of them, as they
were not fit to be sent to the table.

In this year there was more than a quarter
of the crop destroyed by birds and insects,
and rotted by the wet.

Although the above treatment is within
the bounds of truth, it may appear to some
persons like an exaggeration ; but it is in the
power of every one who will follow the direc-
tions here given, to prove the advantage that
vrill accrue from this method of training.

286 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

The above experiments were all made on
the natural walls, and I hope will be sufficient
to convince every unprejudiced person of the
great advantage that the serpentine method
of training vines pofsefses above the common
way.

It may be proper to observe, that the shoots
should be brought as near as pofsible from
the bottom of the vine ,; that the wall may be
well covered. "When the walls are high, and
the shoots from the serpentine branches strong,
we sometimes let them remain; but if the
walls are low, and the serpentine branches
produce weak shoots, we cut them out in the
autumnal pruning, and train up the strongest
of the young wood in their room.

87. On Lime *.

Lime never increases the richnefs of any
soil; but it has deteriorated much land by pro-
moting an over exhaustion. Yet many land-
lords who, from supposing that it enriches
the soil, make their tenants covenant to Hme
the land every time they fallow it ; which is

By John Middleton, Esq.

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 287

generally every third year ; not considering
that it is a drcfsing mostly in favour of the
tenant, and frequently against the interest of
the landlord.

Landlords would therefore do well to re-
strain the general use of lime ^ and to give
their tenants leave to apply it only where its
beneficial effects are proved by experiment ;
and then for the production of two or three
green crops to be fed on the land previously
to taking f)7z<? of corn. It seems to prepare
the soil for yielding its treasures, and there-
fore if it should be applied for a succefsion of
corn crops, the ruin of the land is inevitable.

83. On Paring and Burning *,

The impropriety of breaking up tough,
wiry, bcnty, and heathy land, without paring
and burning, is manifested in the neighbour-
hood of Beach-hill, where land, after twenty
years inclosure and cultivation, is in a worse
state now than it was originally. It would be
well for the owners of such allotments, if thev
could now pare and burn them ; but they

^"j John Middleton, Esq.

288 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

have been ploughed, and not producing much
more than what the vermin destroyed, laid
down in such a rough state to grafs, as to be
incapable of being pared and burnt. The
original wiry, bent, and dwarf shrubs, are
now growing in full vigour. On whatever
soil paring and burning has been practiced, it
has never failed of advancing the land to the
first degree of fertility ; and he must be a very
bad farmer who cannot continue, for any
length of time, land so enriched, in a high
state of productivenefs. The particular argu-
ments brought against this practice, totally
fail in proving that paring and burning is in
the smallest degree of an impoverishing
nature ; but they demonstrate the ruinous
practice of a succefsion of corn crops, and the
necefsity of strong covenants, and watchful
attention on the part of the landlord, to their
due execution, in order to secure the land
against being exhausted.

Farmers who are induced from theoretical
arguments to prefer the plough to paring and
burning, will find their land to become too
light and spongy for any crop'; even rolling
cannot keep it down ; for its elasticity raises
the soil soon after the roller has pafsed over

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 2W

it, and it is of so imperishable a nature, that
it is likely to plague the farmer for many
years. The one method immediately opens
a source of great profit; whereas the other
leads to nothing but expense and disappoint-
ment.

89. On Hogs*.
The largest breed in Britain is supposed to
be kept in the neighbourhood of Rudgewick,
on the borders of Surrey and Sufsex, which,
at two years old, feed to an astonishing
weight, even to double, or treble the weight
of most hogs at that age. This breed deserves
to be extensively known, and the number of
them increased in most parts of this island, as
they are likely to pay much more for their
feed than other breeds of a smaller kind.
The following are the weights of some hogs
at Rudgewick.

The largest was fatted by Mr. Thomas
Ireland, and killed by John Oulder, at
Wisborrow Green ; it weighed one hundred

* By Mr. James Puttock.

290 GEORGICAL ESSA'-iS.

and sixteen stone, six pounds. Two more
were fatted by Mr. Ireland, and killed at his
house: one ninety-three stone, and one eighty
stone. IMr. Edward Ireland, one eighty-six
stone, and one eighty stone. Mr. Thomas
Elliott, one of ninety-seven stone, and one
ninety stone; this had eighty-eight pounds in
the flea. Mr. Parkhurst Elliot, one eighty
stone ; and Mr. Anthony Widden, one ninety-
nine stone. Mr. Stening, one eighty-five
stone. Mr. Pryde, of Cronlcy, one, last year,
ninety-one stone ; and several more that
weighed between seventy and eighty stone, of
which I take no notice. The hogs were
about two years old.

/ cojiceive that the London stone of eight
pounds is here meant. A. H.

so. On feeding lioj'scs*.

Cutting strav.', clover, or hay, and mix-
ing them with the horse-corn, is a great
saving in stover j but in the county of Kent,
where they cut all the provender for their
horses, they have a practice much to be corn-

By A. Collet, Esq.

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 291

mended. It is their custom, in the month of
April, or sooner, if the season permits, to cut
every day a small quantity of green rye, to be
mixed with the corn and chaff. Every farmer
knows that in the spring, many horses pine
and look sickly for want of green food ; and
if the weather be dry and hot at the same
time, many horses will not eat dry meat
without being watered. Half an acre of rye,
sown the latter end of September, will be
sufficient for ten or twelve horses till they go
out to grafs. Lucern will come in to cut as
early as rye, and is preferable. I am con-
vinced that whoever tries this ofice, will never
leave off the practice.

91. On Sagaciousnefsy sharpened by early necejsity^
in opposition to the effects produced by toys and
playthings given to the children of the rich*.

It is the poor alone who are permitted to
feel and to enjoy the rich provision made by
nature for their instruction in its full extent.
Accordingly we shall find that the children of
peasants of the lowest clafs, nay even tlie
children of gipscys, have at three years of a.^?,

• By Mifs Eliz. Hamilton.

292 GJ*ORGICAL ESSAYS.

a greater stock of ideas, acquired from the
examination of sensible objects, and are in-
finitely more capable of taking care of them-
selves, than children of the higher ranks at
six.

On a woody and steep declivity of the
Cotteswold hills, where they project into the
vale of Gloucester, stands a small cot inhabited
bv a poor widow, or rather a deserted wife,
who was left with two infants, for whose
provision she exerted herself in the labours of
the field , and being a woman of remarkable
strength and dexterity, she found employment
with the neia:hbourin2: farmers. Soon as her
youngest boy was weaned, she consigned him
to the care of his brother, only three years of
aofe. After havinsr cut the brown bread
which was to supply them with food for the
day, and given necefsary instructions to the
older boy, who was to act as cook, house-
keeper, and nurse, she left them generally
about five in the morning, and seldom return-
ed till night. At the time I first saw this little
pair (which I did every day for weeks together
when on a visit to a family in the neighbour-
hood,) the eldest was near five, and the

^ GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 293

youngest about two years of age. Each might
have sat for the picture of an infant Hercules.
By living almost constantly in the open air,
they had acquired a degree of hardinefs and
vigour, seldom to be met with at that early
age ; and by experience had become so well
acquainted with the objects around them,
and with the nature of every danger to which
they were exposed, that though often on the
edge of precipices which would make a fine
Jady shudder with horror, and where a fine
little master would probably have broken his
neck, I never heard of their meeting with the
smallest accident. When the hours of meal
arrived, the elder, who never for a moment
forsook his little charge, took him into the cot,
and seating him in a corner, proceeded to
make a fire with sticks, which he managed
with great dexterity.

The brown bread was then crumbled down,
boiled with water, and sweetened with a very
little coarse sugar. This plain, but evidently
from its effects, wholesome mefs, he then
placed on the floor, and sitting down betwixt
it and his brother, gave him alternate spoon-^
fuls with himself till all was finished.
Folime Vr, U

294

GEORGICAL ESSAYS,

" Take care, Dan," said a lady who once
happened to step into the cottage at the be-
ginning of this operation, " take care that you
" don't scald your brother's mouth." " No fear
" of that," returned the boy, " for I always
" takes tin first to self."

92. 0)1 Woollen Rags.

At London, and other considerable cities,
there are people who make it their employ-
ment to collect woollen rags, chop them in
small pieces, and sell them either by the sack,
or the hundred weight. They are used on the
dry sands of Hertfordshire with great effect
in dry seasons, which may be attributed to
to their power of attracting moisture from the
atmosphere. However, being an animal sub-
stance, capable of putrefaction, we must sup-
pose that they act also by yielding the food of
plants.

93. Income of the Kingdom .

"Whenever it shall please God to influence
this nation to perform the patriotic exertion
recommended in Efsay XI, page 155, of this
Vcluiiiey4t Vvill be a great satisfaction to

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 295

know that Great Britain is fully adequate to
the virtuous task. A, H.

£

Rents of Land 40,000,000

Profits of Farming 35,000,000

Amount of Tithes 4,000,000

Income from Money in the Public Funds... 17,000,000
From Money in Bonds and Bills, including

capitals in Banks 10,000,000

From Rents of Houses 4,000,000

From Canals, Mines, and Fisheries , 5,000,000

Incomes spent in Britain, arising from Pro-
perty in other Countries 5,000,000

From the Retail Trade, over the Nation.... 12,000,000
From the capital employed in Domestic

Trade 28,000,000

Incomes of Manufacturers and others, from

15 1. to 601. a year 75,000,000

♦ £ 235,000,000

S4. On Drawing Turnips \.
It is a fact which every one will admit,
that turnips drawn and spread in a grafs field,
will go much farther than when consumed on
the land where they grew : from my own ob-
servation, there is near one-third difference.

* By Benj. Bell, Esq.
t By Mr. John Tuke.

^96 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

AVhere turnips are much cultivated, it is now
become the general practice to sow grafs-
seeds with the crop of corn which follows
them, if the land is of pretty good quality,
and has been well manured for the turnips.
If a good crop of these has been obtained, the
consumption of them on the land will make it so
rich, that the succeeding crop of corn will be
greatly injured by running too much into
straw, and by being laid ; and the clover, or
seeds, sown with it, to be thereby very much
injured : but if the turnips were drawn, and
regularly consumed in a field which was sown
with seeds, either in the last year or the year
before, that inconvenience would be removed.
The additional quantity of stock they would
keep, would compensate for the expense of
drawing and carriage ; the land would be
more benefitted by a larger number of stock
being kept, and they would make a greater
improvement by being regularly served every
day, having their food clean, and lying cleaner
themselves, than when put on a piece of tur-
nips, which after the few first days become
soiled, not only by their feet, but also by their
dung and urine, in which state, nothing but
hunger will induce them to eat such uncleanly
food i and from their eagernefs fqr that which
is fresh, arises the difuculty of preventing

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 297

sheep from breaking out of their fold into the
fresh turnips, where they do great damage.

95. On Cottagers renting Land, or cnjouing small
Freeholds *.

Having lived more than thirty years in a
country village, I have had innumerable occa-
sions to remark a striking difference between
the cottagers, who have a garden adjoining
to their habitations, and those who have no
garden. The former are generally sober, in-
dustrious, and healthy, whilst the latter are
too often drunken, lazy, vicious, and fre-
quently diseased. The reason for this dif-
ference is obvious, because one fills up all his
time with useful labour, whilst the other, for
want of occupation, takes refuge in the ale-
house, where he dissipates his scanty pittance,
and destroys his health.

Another striking difference to be noticed,
is between those who have freehold tene-
ments, and their neighbours, who are obliged
to rent. In the former we commonly observe
that opcnnefs and honesty, which are seldom
to be seen in men who are destitute of pro-
perty. The peasant, whose ancestors built a

* By the Rev. J. Townsend.

U3

598 GEORGICAL ESSAYS-

cottage on the waste, with a sufficient garden,
and the right of commonage for his cow, if he
retain this Httle patrimony, brings up a numer-
ous family without being reduced to the necef-
sity of asking afsistance from his parish. This
man acquires habits of sobriety and industry,
and his property is a pledge to the community
for his good behaviour. These good quahties
are transmitted to his offspring j and when
his children go out to service, they, Hke their
parents, are distinguished for ingenuous con-
duct ; they resemble the sons of freemen,
whilst the immediate descendants of those,
who have no freehold, too frequently have
all the dispositions of a slave.

Commons, it must be acknowledged, if not
stinted, starve all cattle ; and though stinted,
yet cannot be improved, like land that is in
severalty. They have this advantage to the
poor man, that his property is inalienable, and
must descend from the father to his son. Com-
mons, however, should never be admitted in
a well regulated state, and when divided,
the rights and interests of the cottager should
be particularly attended to.

The cottage law of Q.ucen Elizabeth, which

GEORGTCAL ESSAYS. 299

required that four acres of land should be at-
tached for ever to each cottage, precluded the
necefsity of commons. This statute has been
repealed. Four acres of land were too much
for the spade, and too little for the plough,
and therefore it was wise in the legislative
authority, at a time when pasture gave place
to tillage, to abrogate this law. Yet, perhaps,
it would have been more advisable merely to
have lefsened the quantity of land required
for each cottage, than to have dropped this
provision altogether.

At the present moment, when it is in con-
templation to improve the wastes, and to in-
close all commons, would it not be prudent
to allot a certain portion of land, perhaps one-
eighth of an acre, to each cottage, with a pro-
vision, that this little property should be in-
alienable, and rather go to the most distant
relation, than to one who is pofsefsed of
land?

Such a provision has been made by Spain
in the new settlements of the Sierra Morena,
and is found beneficial to the public.

Even in parishes, which have already laid

U 4

300 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

all their common lands in severalty, without
making the provision here recommended for
the poor, might it not be advisable to give
every cottager employed in agriculture, the
same quantity of land, on the same conditions
as above ?

A parish containing three thousand acres of
arable and pasture, in proportion to each
other, may be cultivated by one hundred
families, who, according to this proposal, would
require only twelve acres and a half of land
to make them happy. This, at 40s. per acre,
would cost the parish only 25 J. per annum,
■whilst in cabbages, carrots, and potatoes, it
would produce the value of more than 3001.
a year, which produce would undoubtedly
relieve the poor rates to the same amount.

The West India planters have adopted a
plan somewhat similar to this, and derive from
it the most substantial advantages j for by
this they encourage industry, and in the most
agreeable manner induce their slaves, by
strenuous exertions, to derive profit from
every moment of their time.

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 30l

96. 071 the Cam Trade *.
The corn trade, both as a manufacture,
and an article of commerce, is, of all others,
of the greatest importance to the prosperity
of the kingdom.

Abundance of grain at home, and at a
moderate price, can only be obtained, and se-
cured, by giving such liberal encouragement
to exportation, as may render the raising of
corn the favourite object of industry in the
kingdom. Thus, instead of purchasing a con-
siderable part of our subsistence from foreign
countries, we may, by extending the sale of
corn to them, increase the demand ; and by
cultivating the waste lands, be enabled not
only to supply ourselves, but to render our
country one of the principal granaries of
Europe. It is clear that Great Britain, under|
proper laws, is capable of increasing her
growth of corn to any degree for which de-
mand can be obtained. This being the case,
open the ports for exportation, and the de-
mand would be almost unlimited ; allow the
commons to be cultivated under a general

By John Middlcton, Esq,

302 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

inclosure bill, and the supply would be cer-
tain.

What greater injury can be done to this
kingdom, than by suffering upwards of twenty-
two millions of acres of land to lie uncul-
tivated. True policy says, that we should
cultivate and bring into use every capable
inch of this island j and by exporting such
parts of the produce as woulH not be wanted
for home consumption, increase the riches
and commerce of the nation. On the con-
trary, the present narrow policy* of this

• A General Inclosure Bill, with a Compulsory Act
for the Commutation of Tithes, would effectually remove
the grievances here so justly complained of. The mil-
lions that, but a few years ago, were sent out of this
country for com, ought to rouse the dormant good sense
of the British Legislature. The church may complain
of a compulsory act, but the general good of the nation,
together with the high importance of religion and
morality, ought to outweigh every other considerarion.
I do not wish to be thought as objecting to tithes, for
they are the legal right of the church, but I object to
the mode of collection. The farmer who earns his living
by hard labour, will not be cordially induced to receive
religious instruction from the man who is rigorously
exacting the tenth of his labour, without so much as
afsisting in wiping off the sweat frem his brow.

A. H.

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 303

country, makes it impofsible for husbandmen
to provide small farms for theirchildren to culti-
vate, vi'hich necefsarily drives them into trade ;
checks and reprefses matrimony, and con-
sequently keeps down the most healthy, vigor-
ous, and useful ciafses of population. It is
likewise the cause of our manufacturers being
fed, at a very increased price, with the pro-
ductions of the land of other nations, who
are occasionally our enemies, but who have
the superior wisdom to raise corn for exporta-
tion, and consequently to drain this country
of its wealth, to pay them for their labour
and profit in raising it.

97. The Method of making Butter in Holland:
Having milked the cows, the milk is not
put into the pans till it is quite cold ; it is
then stirred two or three times a day, with a
wooden spoon, to prevent the cream from
separating from the milk ; and if it can be
stirred till the spoon will almost stand in it,
they deem it so much the better. When it is
found to be sufficiently thick, it is put into
the churn and beat for an hour. When the

B)' Mr. R. Pole Care

w.

304 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

butter begins to form, a pint, or more, of cold
water, according to the quantity of milk, is
poured in, to separate the butter from the
butter-milk. When the butter is taken out
of the churn, it is washed and kneaded till
the last water is perfectly clear and free from
milk. By this method, a greater quantity of
butter is made from an equal quantity of milk;
and the butter is more firm and sweet, and
will keep longer than that which is made by
the method commonly in use in England;
and the butter-milk which remains is thought
preferable.

93. On fastening the roots of Wheat*.
After a frosty winter, the crown roots of
wheat, on some lands, are thrown out of the
ground, the best remedy for which, is to drive
a flock of sheep into the field, after a moderate
shower. These with their feet will fasten
the roots much better than the roller, but it
will be necefsary to drive the flock about,
without suflfering the sheep to feed upon the
corn. After the flock is driven off, there can
be no objection to pafsing a light roller over
the land.

* By Mr. William Brown.

CEORGICAL ESSAYS. 303

99. On Lime *.

Lime is not capable of increasing the rich-
nefs of any soil. It only prepares the soil for
yielding its treasures, and, therefore, good hus-
bandry requires that it should never be ap-
plied alone for a succefsion of corn crops ; yet
many landlords, who, from supposing that it
enriches the soil, make their tenants covenant
to lime the land every time they fallow it,
which is generally every third year, not con-
sidering, that when used alone, it is a drefsing
mostly in favour of the tenant, and frequently
against the interest of the landlord. Instances
are not wanting to prove the miserable state
that land is often left in by a greedy and
dishonest tenant, who, by means of lime, and
a succefsion of corn crops, has extracted from
it the last particle of nourishment, leaving the
farm to be restored to its former energy, at a
great expense, by the landlord himself.

100. On Meadow Land in the occupation of Cowkeepers
in the neighbourhood of London\.

Meadow land in the occupation of Cow-

* By A. Hunter, M. D.
t By John Middleton, Esq,

506 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

keepers, is generally mown two or three times
in a summer. Their great number of cows
enable them to drefs it every year, and they
are studious to procure their hay of a soft
grafsy quality, not letting it stand till the
seedling stems rise, but mowing it two, three,
or four weeks sooner than it would be ad-
visable to do for the support of horses.

** Persons who keep cows upon hay grown
upon lands liable to river-floods, would do well
to attend to the above practice."

A. H.

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 307

ESSAY XIII.

On Farm-yard Manageyyient.

IT is not sufficient to attend to the general
theory of agriculture, for however scientifically
this may be studied, unlefs the minutiae of the
practice be indefatigably observed, the system
of husbandry must remain incomplete. Of
the lefser branches of this art, one of the most
considerable and of the greatest importance,
is the good order and economy of the farm-
yard. To raise the most valuable and largest
quantity of manure, should be the great ob-
ject of every farmer ; upon this circumstance,
the vigour and health of his land will prin-
cipally depend. Every thing, therefore, that
can contribute in the smallest degree to the
size or quality of the dung-hill, is of the ut-
most consequence.

For this purpose, I should recommend farm-
steads to be built with every requisite con-
venience, which, by attending to the real
utility, rather than the appearance of the build-

308 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

ings, may be done at a moderate expense.
The tenant can amply afford a proper rent for
such conveniences, and it is very much to his
interest, as well as to that of the landlord, to
have them. Grazing farms which do not pro-
duce great quantities of straw, require to be
better accommodated with sheds and houses
for cattle than large arable farms ; as upon
the latter, economy of straw cannot be so
closely attended to. The yard will be found
more convenient, if divided into two parts ;
as it is always desirable to separate the younger
stock from those that are older j so circum-
stanced, they are more at rest, and con-
sequently thrive better. One pump will
water both yards, which is far preferable to
the old mode of permitting the cattle to go to
an adjoining pond to water, by which a great
quantity of manure is lost, and much ground
poached by their feet. The yard should form
altogether a shallow basin, to preserve the
liquid part of the manure j and it will be
found very advantageous to lay at the bottom
a considerable quantity of sand, or any ab-
sorbent upper soil. This should be done every
spring and autumn, when the cattle are con-
fined all the year ; but if they are only taken
up in the wipter, once will be sufficient : each

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 309

time the yard is cleared of the dung, a very
large portion of highly valuable manure for
grafs land, will be obtained from the bottom
of the farm-yard, which may be again re-
plenished with sand or earth. It is not within
the limits of a short Efsay, like the present,
that all the advantages of this mode can be
pointed out, the value of it can alone be as-
certained by those who have practised it.
The increased quantity of manure is very
great, all the superfluous moisture is absorbed
by it, and the farm-yard is kept in a much
drier, and more comfortable state than it
otherwise could be, particularly where atten-
tion is paid to the value of straw. But I ad-
mit that there are situations, where, from the
difficulty of procuring proper materials, this
system can be only partially observed.

As soon as, from the severity of the weather,
or barenefs of the pastures, it is thought ne-
cefsary to fodder the cattle, I should recomv
mend them to be brought into the farm-yard^,
in preference to giving them hay or turnips
whilst out. The cattle will be much better
sheltered, and a larger quantity of manure
will be made. Experience convinces me, that
the dung of animals laid upon the ground at

Volume VI. X

310 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

any season of the year, in its unfermented
state, does not by any means enrich the land
so much as when it has undergone a quick
fermentation, with a small quantity of litter.
Let as many cattle be tied up in houses or
sheds as the buildings will admit of, par-
ticularly the fattening beasts. Cows and
calves thrive better and require lefs meat in
the house, than when exposed to all changes
of weather in the farm-yard ; the waste is not
near so great, and consequently the manure
is improved by the straw being eaten, rather
than trodden down into litter. I have before
said, that the great object of the farmer should
be to keep the largest pofsible stock of every
kind of cattle, to augment and improve his
dunghill : I would therefore have every care
taken to make the straw go as far as it can ;
and I speak of straw more particularly, as I
do not consider hay, in general, a profitable
crop for the farmer. When we observe the
common method of using straw, it is not to
be wondered at, that it should be undervalued;
it is too frequently and injudiciously made
the scle food of cattle, which (especially when
poarse and ill-gotten) they show by their daily
decrease of condition ; an obvious circum-
stance, that it does not afford them sufficient

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. Sll

nutriment : such cattle, in the spring, are
turned from the farm-yard to grafs, in so poor
a state, that two or three months are often
necefsary to get them again into the same
condition they were in when taken up in the
autumn. This proves a severe check to the
young cattle, which it very materially injures,
and is a great drawback on the farmer's profit.
But let straw be made subservient to turnips,
carrots, cabbages, kale, potatoes, 8rc. Let a
certain portion of these crops, according to
the nature of the farm, be given to the cattle,
and a very large quantity of winter stock will
be kept in a progrefsive state of improvement:
which, upon all soils, will prove exceedingly
profitable. I believe it will ever be found for
the interest of the farmer, to keep all his stock
in high condition, more particularly young
animals, as they will come sooner to profit,
and are at all times saleable ; it is well known
that animals when fat, consume much lefs
food than when in a lean state.

I have paid great attention to the nutritious
qualities of the turnip, not only in the feeding
of cattle, but of horses and store pigs ; all of
which I find to thrive exceedingly well upon
them in their raw state. It has been my
5 X 2

512 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

practice to give my draught horses about a
peck and a half of turnips each, every night,
with a fodder of straw ; and I am of opinion,
that they thrive as well, and keep in better
health by this mode, than they w^ould do upon
the best hay. The turnips are given to them
whole, but without the tops and fangs On
land where they draw clean, and in dry
weather, they will not require washing ; but
if dirty, they must be washed ; this, however,
is seldom the case with me. In the day time,
whether worked or not, they have hay and a
small quantity of corn, with sometimes an
addition of a few carrots in the stable; but on
days of rest, they are turned into the farm-yard
for two or three hours, where they enjoy the
turnips with the cattle. By these means, my
draught horses are kept in good condition, at
a comparative small expense, and a great
consumption of corn is avoided ; their bodies
are temperate, and their legs are constantly
clean. My cattle have turnips in proportion
to their respective conditions and ages; but all
have some, and are thereby kept in a state of
improvement ; my general plan is, to let them
all out into the farm-yard, about four hnurs
during the finest part of the day, at which
time, they all eat turnips, having straw only

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 313

in the house, excepting the cows, calves, and
those cattle which are fattening. Even my
pigs, which are of the Scotch and Leicester
breeds, eat turnips in considerable quantities ,
I find them answer very well for store pigs,
with the addition of the little other meat they
pick up in the yard.

The value of turnips, as food for sheep, has
long been fully allowed. For cattle too they
are gaining ground considerably, but I think,
are generally given only to such as are fatten-
ing, and to cows and calves. Store cattle are
much neglected in the winter season ; X have
met with very few farmers who have made
turnips a common food for their draught and
young horses ; or who have considered them
valuable as food for pigs ; but from my own
experience, I venture strongly to recommend
them for these purposes ; at first, perhaps,
they will object to them. In a few days they
will eat them a little, and when some begin
to feed upon them, all the rest will quickly
follow the example.

The Ruta Baga I have heard recommended
as far superior for these latter purposes 3 and
am inclined to think, from the closenefs of its
2 X 3

514 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

texture, and its sweetnefs, that it is more nu-
tritious ; but 1 have not been succefsful in
raising a good produce ; it appears to me to
be a very precarious crop. I propose, how-
ever, to give it a farther trial -, and should be
sorry to say any thing that might tend to dis-
courage the cultivation of a plant pofsefsed of
so many valuable properties. Carrots, cab-
bages, and kale, I consider as highly neces-
sary crops upon all farms; the two latter par-
ticularly so upon strong soils ; they are an ex-
cellent resource in long frosts and deep snows,
when turnips are with difficulty procured. It
is desirable to grow them as near the home-
stead as pofsible. I find the method of pre-
serving turnips from the frost, as mentioned by
Mr. Marshall in his " Minutes of Agricul-
ture," page 109, of great use, as a constant
supply is thereby provided, notwithstand-
ins: the weather. Before the frost sets in, I
employ boys to afsist my own labourers in
cutting oif the tops and fangs j the tops are
carted home for the immediate use of the
cattle, or spread upon grafs land for the
sheep. The bulbs sre thus preserved; a
layer of straw is spread in a round form upon
a dry part of the land, and the turnips are
carted to it ; four or five loads are heaped and

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. Sl5

covered with straw ; a little earth is put at
the top, in the manner of potatoes ; only as
they seldom lay long, quite so much care is
not necefsary. Thus they remain until a
frost causes a demand for them in the farm-
yard, at which time they are particularly ser-
viceable, if they are led home without in-
jury to the land or roads. They might also
be protected thus for sheep, which would
greatly lefsen the consumption of hay in se-
vere weather.

Corn, in the straw, I have cut in small
quantities, and think it is very useful to give
to horses in the day time when it is required
to have them fed quickly, that they may get
to work again ; but I am of opinion where
chaff is plentiful, much of this will not be
required.

X-f

316 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

ESSAY XIV.

On the Yew Tree.

W E have but one species of this tree grow-
ing in Europe, viz.

Taxus (baccata) foliis approximatis. Lin.
Sp. Plant. 1472. Yetv' tree with leaves grow-
ing near each other. The Yew Tree.

It is of the clafs and order Dioecia Monadelphia.
a. A male flower, a. Ditto, magnified, b. the
Calyx, magnified. d. the Stamina, magnified.
E. Two Stamina, magnified, one viewed in front,
the other on the under side. f. The female flower,
¥. Ditto magnified, g. The Calyx, magnified.
I. The Embryo, with its Pointal. k. The fruit, or
berry. /. A vertical Section of Ditto, vi. The Seed.

The Yew-tree grovi's naturally in England,
and also in most of the northern countries of
Europe. If suffered to grow, it will rise to a
good height, with a very large stem. It na-
turally sends out branches on every sidi?,

INSERT FOLDOUT HERE

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. Sl7

which spread out, and are almost horizontal ;
these are closely garnished with narrow, stiff,
blunt-pointed leaves, of a very dark green.
The flowers come out from the sides of the
branches in clusters j the male flowers having
many stamina, are more conspicuous than the
female i these, for the most part, are upon dif-
ferent trees, but sometimes are upon the same
tree ; they appear the latter end of May, and
the berries ripen in autumn.

This tree has been generally cultivated for
the pleasure-garden, to be clipped into the
shape of beasts, birds, &c. or for hedges.
Whoever is pleased with such figures, can
raise no tree more proper for the purpose, as
the branches and the leaves may be clipped
and fashioned into almost any form or shape.
But as this method is justly exploded, and as
every one who has the least pretension to
taste, must always prefer a tree in its natural
growth to those monstrous figures, the Yew is
now chiefly planted for vvildernefs quarters,
and for hedges, for which service it js excel-
lently well adapted, as no tree bears clipping
so well.

These trees may be easily propagated by

S18 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

sowing their berries in autumn, as soon as they
are ripe, or in the spring, upon a shady bed of
fresh undunged soil, covering them over about
half an inch thick with the same earth.

The bed must be carefully cleared from
weeds, and if the season prove dry, it will be
proper to refresh it with water now and then,
which w-ill promote the growth of the seeds,
some of which will come up in spring, but
the greatest part will remain in the ground
until autumn or the spring following.

The plants, when they come up, should be
constantly cleared from weeds, which, if
permitted to grow amongst them, will cause
th&ir bottoms to be naked, and frequently de-
stroy the plants when they continue long un-
disturbed.

In this bed the plants may remain two
years; after which, in autumn, there should be
a spot of fresh undunged soil prepared, into
which they should be removed the beginning
of October, planting them in beds about four
or five feet wnde, in rows about a foot asunder,
and the same distance from each other in the
rows, observing to lay a little mulch upon the

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. Sl9

surface of the ground about the roots, as also
to water them in dry weather until they have
taken root ; after which they will require no
farther care, but to keep them clear from
weeds in summer, and to trim them according
to the purposes for which they are intended.

In these beds they may remain two or three
years, according as they have grown, when
they should again be removed into the nursery,
placing them in rows at three feet distance,
and the plants eighteen inches asunder in the
rows ; observe to do it in autumn, as was
before directed, and continue to trim them in
the summer season, according to the design
for which they are intended ; and after they
have continued three or four years in the
nursery, they may be transplanted where
they are to remain; always observing to re-
move them in autumn when intended for dry
ground, but for cold moist land the spring is
the better season.

These trees, though of slow growth, do
sometimes arrive at a considerable size. Mr.
Pennant mentions one in Fontingal church-
yard, in the Highlands of Scotland, whose
ruins measured fifty-six feet and a half in
circumference.

320 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

Of the Yew there is a variety with short
leaves, which appears very ornamental in
plantations. There is also another with
striped leaves, of great value amongst the va-
riegated tribes. These are increased by layers,
but the striped sort must be planted upon a
barren soil, otherwise it will become plain.

In the days of Archery, so great was the
demand for the wood of the Yew-tree, that the
merchants were obliged by statute to import
four staves of it for every ton of goods coming
from places where bow-staves had formerly
been brought. In those ancient days the
Yew was planted in church-yards, where it
stood a substitute for the Invisa Cuprefsus,
It also was placed near houses, where it
might be ready for the sturdy bows of our
warlike Ancestors,

« who drew,

" And almost joined, the horns of the tough Yew."

Mr. Pennant informs us that this tree is to
be found in its native state upon the hills that
bound the waters of the AVinander, and on the
face of many precipices of different places in
this kingdom. There are six remarkable
trees of this sort now growing on the hill

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 321

above Fountain's Abbey, near Ripon, which,
in 1770, measured in circumference as beJow :

Feet. In. Feel. In.

1 13 0

2 18 0

3 19 0

4 21 0

5 25 0

6 'it; 6

Under these very trees a number of Monks
resided, until they built the Monastery of
Fountains in 1133j having withdrawn them-
selves from the Benedictine Monastery of St.
Mary in York.

The best reason that can be given why the
Yew was planted in church-yards, is^ that
branches of it were often carried in procefsion,
on Palm Sunday, instead of the Palm. The
following extract from Caxton's Direction for
keeping feasts all the year, is decisive on this
custom. In the lecture for Palm Sunday,
he says, " Wherefore Holy Chirch this day
makyth solemn procefsyon, in mind of the
procefsyon that Cryst made this day. But
for encheson that we have none Olyve that
bereth grene leef, algate therefore we take
Ewe instede of Palm and Olyve, and beren
about in procefsyon, and so is thys day called
PalmSonday." As a confirmation of this fact.

322 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

the Yew trrees in the church-yards of East
Kent are at this day called Palms.

My most excellent and learned friend Dr.
Percival of Manchester, in his " Medical and
Philosophical Efsays," has recorded a melan-
choly proof of the poisonous quality of Yew
leaves. " On Friday, March 25, 1774,
three children of James Buckley, a labouring-
man at Longsight, near Manchester, were
killed by taking a small quantity of the fresh
leaves of the Yew-tree, or Taxiis Officinalis of
Caspar Bauhine. The oldest child was five,
the second four, and the youngest three years
of age : They were all supposed to be infected
with the worms, and this poison was given
them by the recommendation of some igno-
rant person, as a powerful remedy for that
disorder. The driedleavesweYe first employed ;
and a spoonful of them, mixed with brown
sugar, was divided into three equal dozes,
which the children took at seven o'clock in
the evening. At eight they had each a mefs
of pottage, prepared of butter-milk, which,
having been kept several days, was become
very sour. No complaints were made by the
children -, nor did any bad effects ensue. Two
days afterwards the mother collected fresh

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 323

leaves, and administered them in the same
dose, as before, and at the same hour. At
eight o'clock the children breakfasted on
nettle-pottage, that is, oatmeal gruel with fresh
nettles boiled in it, a mefs well known in this
country. At nine, they began to be uneasy ;
were chilly and listlefs : yawned much ; and
frequently stretched out their limbs. The
oldest vomited a little, and complained of
gripings in his belly ; but the others exprefsed
no signs of pains. The second child died at
ten o'clock j the youngest about one ; and
the oldest at three in the afternoon. No ago-
nies accompanied their difsolution; no swel-
ling of the abdomen ensued ; and after death
they had the appearance of being in a placid
sleep. These particulars I learned from the
unfortunate parents of the children, whose ig-
norance led them too long, and too fatally, to
rely on the trifling and inefficacious means of
relief, suggested to them by their neighbours.

S24 GEORSICAL ESSAYS.

ESSAY XV.

On Hai/-making.

i. HIS branch of the rural art has, by the
farmers of Middlesex, been brought to a de-
gree of perfection altogether unequalled by
any other part of the kingdom. The neat
husbandry, and superior skill and manage-
ment, that are so much, and justly, admired
in the arable farmers of the best cultivated
districts, may, with equal justice and propriety,
be said to belong, in a very eminent degree,
to the Aay farmers of Middlesex : for by them,
may very fairly be claimed the merit of having
reduced the art of making good hay to a re-
gular system; v^^hich, after having stood the
test of long practice and experience, is found
to be attended with the most desirable suc-
cefs. Even in the most unfavourable weather,
the hay made according to the Middlesex
manner, is superior to that made by any other
method, under similar circumstances. It is
to beregretted, that this very excellent practice
has not yet, except in a very few instances.

OF.ORGICAL ESSAYS. 325

travelled beyond the borders of the county.
But as it most justly deserves the attention
and imitation of farmers in other districts, I
shall, for their information, endeavour mi-
nutely to describe the method in which the
Middlesex farmers make their hay.

In order that the subject may be more
clearly understood, I shall relate the particular
operations of each day, during the whole
procefs, from the moment in which the
mower first applies his scythe, to that in which
the hay is secured either in the barn or in the
stack. Before I enter more immediately on
this task, I would just premise a few observa-
tions, viz. when the grafs is nearly fit for
mowing, the Middlesex farmer endeavours
to select the best mov/ers, in number propor-
tioned to the quantity of his grafs, and the
length of time it would be advisable to have
it in hand — which having done, he lets it out,
as piece work, or to be mown by the acre.

About the same time he provides five hay-
makers (men and women*) to each mower.

• Including loaders, pUchers, and stackers, and all others,
Volume VL Y

S'26 CEORGICAL ESSAYS.

These last are paid by the day — the men at-
tending from six till six; but the women
only from eight till six : — for an extra hour
or so in the evening, when the businefs re-
quires despatch, they receive a proportionate
allowance.

The mowers usually begin their work at
three, four, or five o'clock in the morning, and
continue to labour till seven or eight at night j
resting an hour or two in the middle of the day.

Every hay-maker is expected to come pro-
vided with a fork and a rake of his own ; but
when the grafs is ready, and labourers scarce,
the farmer is frequently obliged to provide
both ; but for the most part only the rake.

Every part of the operation is carried on
with forks, except clearing the ground, which
is done with rakes ; and loading the carts,
which is done bv hand.

Having premised so much, I now come to
the description of the businefs of the

First Day. — All the grafs mown before nine
p'clock in the morning, is tedded (or spread)

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 327

and great care taken to shake it out of every
lump, and to strew it evenly over all the
ground. Soon afterwards it is turned, with
the same degree of care and attention; and
if, from the number of hands, they are able to
turn the whole again, they do so, or at least
as much of it as they can, till twelve or one
o'clock, at which time they dine. The first
thing to be done after dinner, is to rake it into
what are called single windrows*; and the
last operation of this day is to put it into
grafs-cocks.

Second Day. — The businefs of this day com-
mences with tedding all the grafs that was
mown the first day after nine o'clock, and all
that was mown this day before nine o'clock.
Next, the grafs-cocks are to be well shaken
out into staddles (or separate plats) of five or
six yards diameter. \i the crop should be
so thin and light as to leave the spaces between
these staddles rather large, such spaces must
be immediately raked clean, and the rakings
mixed with the other hay, in order to its all

• That i», they all rake in such a manner, as that-
each person makes a row, which rows are three or four
feet apart.

Y2

S28 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

drying of a uniform colour. The next busi-
nefs is to turn the staddles, and after that to
turn the grafs that was tedded in the first part
of the morning, once or twice, in the manner
described for the first day. This should all
be done before twelve or one o'clock, so that
the whole may lie to dry, while the work-
people are at dinner. After dinner, the first
thing to be done is, to rake the staddles into
double w'lndrov^'s* j next, to rake the grafs
into single windrows ; then the double wind-
rows are put into bastard-cocks; and lastly,
the single windrows are put into grafs-cocks.
This completes the work of the second day.

JTiird Z)ay.— The grafs mown and not
spread on the second day, and also that mown
in the early part of this day, is first to be
tedded in the morning; and then the grafs--
cocks are to be spread into staddles, as before,
and the bastard-cocks into staddles of lefs ex-
tent. These lefser staddles, though last spread.

* In doing which, every two persons rake the hay in
oj>posite directions, or towards each other, and by that
lueans form a row between them of double the size of a
single windrow. Each of these double windrows are
about six or eight feet distant from each other.

GE0R6ICAL ESSAYS. 329

are first turned, then those which were in
grafs-cocks; and next the grais is turned
once or twice before twelve or one o'clock,
when the people go to dinner as usual. If the
weather has proved sunny and fine, the hay
which was last night in bastard-cocks, will
this afternoon be in a proper state to be car-
ried*; but if the weather should, on the con-
trary, have been cool and cloudy, no part of
it probably will be fit to carry. In that case,
the first thing set about after dinner, is to
rake that which was in grafs-cocks last night
into double windrows ; then the graf^ which
was this morning spread from the swaths, into
single windrows. After this, the hay which
was last night in bastard-cocks is made up into
full-sized cocks, and care taken to rake the
hay up clean, and also to put the rakings upon
the top of each cock. Next, the double
windrows are put into bastard-cocks, and t,he
single windrows into grafs-cocks, as on the
preceding days.

Fourth i)^j/.— On this day the great cocks,
just mentioned, are usually carried before din-

• It seldom happens in dry weather, but that it may
be carried on the third day.

3 YS

330 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

ner. The other operations of the day are
such, and in the same order, as before de-
scribed, and are continued daily until the hay
harvest is completed.

In the course of hay-making, the grafs
should, as much as pofsible, be protected both
day and night, against rain and dew, by cock-
ing. Care should also be taken to proportion
the number of hay-makers to that of the
mowers, so that there may not be more grafs
in hand, at any one time, than can be managed
according to the foregoing procefs. This pro-
portion is about twenty hay-makers (of which
number twelve may be women) to four
mowers : the latter are sometimes taken half
a day to afsist the former. But in hot, windy,
or very drying weather, a greater proportion
of hay-makers will be required, than when
the weather is cloudy and cool.

It is particularly necefsary to guard against
spreading more hay than the number of hands
can get into cock the same day, or before
rain. In showery and uncertain weather,
the grafs may sometimes be suffered to lie
three, four, or even five days in swath. But
before it has lain long enough for the under

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 331

side of the swath to become yellow (which, if
suffered to lie long, would be the case), par-
ticular care should be taken to turn the swaths
with the heads of the rakes. In this state it
will cure so much in about two days, as only
to require being tedded a few hours, when
the weather is fine, previous to its being put
together and carried. In this manner, hay
may be made and stacked at a small expense,
and of a good colour ; but the tops and bottoms
of the grafs are insufficiently separated by it.

There are no hay-stacks more neatly formed,
nor better secured, than those of Middlesex.
At every vacant time, while the stack is carry-
ing up, the men are employed in pulling it,
with their hands, into a proper shape ; and,
about a week after it is finished, the whole
roof is properly thatched, and then secured
from receiving any damage from the wind,
by means of a straw rope, extended along the
eves, up the ends, and near the ridge. The
ends of the thatch are afterwards cut evenly
below the eves of the stack, just of sufficient
length for the rain-water to drip quite clear
of the hay. When the stack happens to be
placed in a situation which may be suspected
gf being too damp in the winter, a trench, of

Y4

332 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

about six or eight inches deep, is dug round,
and nearly close to it, which serves to convey
ail the water from the spot, and renders it
perfectly dry and secure*

ESSAY XVI.

On the effects of Country Banks on the price of
Provisiojis.

JN all countries of trade, and in every well
regulated government, monopolies have either
not been permitted, or if any have taken place,
they have speedily been destroyed. Now, if
monopolies have done harm in every other
article of trade, they are surely more likely to
prove hurtful when applied to money, by
which aione trade of every kind is carried
on.

In the first place, it would do an important
iDJury to the nation, by lefscning the security
of the whole of its paper currency. By con-
fining the privilege of ifsuing bank notes to a

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 333

single company or two, the nation would have
no other security for all the notes that they
might ifsue, but the private fortunes of the
fevy partners of which these companies might
ijcHisist : whereas, by giving free permifsion
to country banks, a large proportion of the
whole wealth of the kingdom is pledged for
their security, as undoubtedly is the case at
present.

If, on the contrary, all the bank notes in
the kingdom were ifsued by one, two, or
three banks, as much of the national businefs
is now carried on by notes, the sums which
they would give out or circulate would ne-
cefsarily be immenfe, in proportion to their
capitals ; and still more extensive, in pro-
portion to the quantity of gold and silver
which they could retain to give in exchange
for their notes. The consequence of which
would be, that they would much more fre-
quently meet with difficulties, and be obliged
to avoid payments in money, as very recently
has been the case even with the national bank
of Britain, than there is reason to think would
at any period happen, if every city and district
in the kingdom were permitted to establish
its own banks. Small banks, from havings

SS4- GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

no dependence on the influence of large
capitals, nor any adventitious support, but
trusting entirely to the punctuality with which
their businefs is done, for the credit that they
enjov, and finding it much for their interest
never to extend their transactions beyond
■nhnt their funds can bear, w^ill very seldom
be found to have done so ; and if occasionally
a bank of this kind should transgrefs, it could
never be in any considerable degree. The
lofs would, therefore, be of little importance,
and confined to a small district, instead of ex-
tending over the whole kingdom, and carry-
ing Tuin along v> ith it to the whole of our
manufactures, as certainly would be the cafe,
if a failure should ever occur of a national
bank, endowed with the exclusive privilege
of supplying the kingdom with bank notes.

If the paper-dollars of North America had
been ifsued by opulent individuals in every
district of the United States ; and if this also
had been done with the afsignats of France ;
neither the paper currency of America or
France would ever have been depreciated j
for in that case almost the whole of the ter-
ritory of both countries would have been
responsible for the amount of it : but this not.

CEORGICAL ESSAYS. SS5

being done, for the coinage of paper both in
America and France was exclusively managed
by a single company, that is, by the govern-
ment, it soon fell into discredit ; and was so
much depreciated at last, that it literally be-
came of lefs value than blank, paper.

Let none, therefore, who wish to give sta-
bility to the paper currency of Britain, ever
desire to supprefs, restrict, or regulate our
country banks ; which could not in any degree
be done, without increasing the circulation of
the notes of some other bank in the same
proportion ; by which our security for the
payment of these notes would necefsarily in
the same decree be diminished.

O"

At present no inconvenience might ensue
from this, as there is reason to hope that the
wealth of our national bank is equal to all
the notes which it may pofsibly ifsue. But,
if this, or other banks, from being pofsefsed
of the exclusive privilege of supplying the
nation with notes, should be tempted to ifsue
more than the amount of their capitals, which
very probably would happen ; and if either
from fear, or from any other cause, their credit
should become doubtful ; the whole of their

S36 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

notes in circulation might fall in the space of
a few days to a very small proportion of their
original value, and thus would end in the ruin
of a large proportion of the community.

This, again, can very seldom happen with
country banks, few of which can ever get
credit for a larger circulation of their notes
1 ^an the fortunes of those individuals by whom
they are ifsued would be able to pay ; at the
same time, that the whole fortune of every
per ,0:1 concerned in these banks, is answerable
for their -notes, which is seldom or never the
case with banks erected by governments.

It might easily be proved, that, in a material
degree, country banks prove useful to agri-
culture, and thereby tend to lefsen rather than
to raise the prices of produce. AVere it even
the case that they enable farmers to withhold
their produce from some markets, and in a
much greater degree than they have ever pro-
bably done, with the view of obtaining higher
prices in others; as it would only happen
when prices are low, instead of this doing
harm, it might be easily shown that much
benefit would arise from it, as it would lefsen
the consumption, when provisions are abun-

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 337

dant, as commonly is the case immediately
after harvest, and in the same proportion
would reduce the prices in the advanced
seasons of spring and summer, when they "-e-
neralJy become scarce, and consequently dear.

But, independently of this, country banks
prove useful to agriculture, and thereby to the
public, by enabling farmers to carry on im-
provements with more expedition and cer-
tainty, than otherwise they could do. Were
it not for the accommodation that farmers
receive from bankers, improvements of the
most important kind would frequently stop,
and might never be entered upon again. In
this view, farmers are precisely in the same
situation with manufacturers and merchants.
All of them apply to banks for money, when
they do not find purchasers for the articles iti
which they deal ; and why should not farmers
receive the same accommodation with others ?
Bankers will give their notes to none of them
if they are not satisfied with their security ;
but it surely would be reckoned very unjust
and opprefsivc, if on this security being given
by farmers, they should not be entitled to the
same accommodation which, in all similar
circumstances', is given to others. They would

338 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

not only consider it as a disgrace, and hence
would desert their profefsion, but, in reality,
it would be the cause of much pecuniary lofs
to all of them.

Those who imagine that the opulent state
of farmers and country banks are the chief
causes of dearth, do not consider that the two
are incompatible with each other. Banks
must prove chiefly useful to poor farmers :
for those who are opulent can act as their own
bankers ; and while the entire supprefsion of
banks could not so materially affect them, it
could scarcely fail to ruin all who hitherto
have found it necefsary to trust to them.

By that kind of accommodation which far-
mers receive from banks, they have been
enabled, for many years past, to improve and
• retain in tillage a much largerquantity of land
than otherwise they could have done : not
probably lefs than an eighth part of the whole
lands in the kingdom that are now in culti-
tivation ; but were it only a tenth part, or
even no more than a twentieth, still more
produce of corn would be obtained from it
than can ever be derived from importing it,
with this important difference, that in the one

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 339

way we procure it without sending money out
of the kingdom, while, at the same lime, we
render our own property much more valuable :
whereas, by the other, we are expending
twelve millions yearly in the improvement of
other countries, and at the same time are
giving high premiums, nearly to the amount
of three millions, for bringing the produce of
these very improvements to Britain ; a con-
duct for which the people in those countries
to which we apply for corn, can only be able
to account, by supposing that the whole of
our own property is so fully cultivated, that
it cannot be made better.

Now, if this be the true state of the case,
that farmers are enabled to improve the lands
which they pofsefs, and thereby to bring a
larger quantity of produce to sale, in conse-
quence of that accommodation which they
receive from banks ; a fact that few will dis-
pute, it must of necefsity follow, that nearly
in proportion to the amount of this accommo-
dation, country banks will be found to reduce
rather than to increase the price of provisions ;
for, as I have already had occasion to say, if
provisions be produced, they must be quickly
sold ; for neither animal food nor corn can

340 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

ever be long kept but with much lofs; so that
if by the influence of country banks, or any
other cause, these articles are brought in larger
quantities to market than otherwise would be
the case, the prices in the same proportion
must be low.

ESSAY xvir.

On Live Stock,

In a country like this, where animal food
forms so considerable a part of the sustenance
of its inhabitants, and where horses are of so
much consequence in every department of
businefs, no subject can well be of more ge-
neral importance, or more worthy of attention,
than that of live stock.

Before I proceed more minutely to discufs
this important branch of the rural art, I would
premise a few observations, namely, that who-

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. S4l

ever means to attempt any considerable im-
provement of his live stock, should, first of
all, be sure to have a proper degree of shelter,
shade, and warmth ^ and in the next place,
if his land be not already of the richest quality,
he should set about bringing it to that degree
of perfection ; at least, he must drain it com-
pletely, and, if pof^ible,make water-meadows,
raisins: the whole to the highest degree of cul-
tivation of which it is capable; as the live
stock will, in some measure, keep pace with
the improved state of the land.

Both reason and experience prove, that
vegetables and animals are, in some degree,
proportioned to the quality of the land on
which they are grown, or reared.

Rich land naturally produces a luxuriant
herbage, and such rich food will certainly
raise large animals: on the contrary, dwarf
plants are generally met with on a poor soil,
and the poverty of such food as certainly pro-
duces stunted animals. To prove this, let any
one disposed to try the experiment, take
twin lambs at the birth ; let him rear one in
the poorest manner, and the other in the
richest ; he Vv^ill then find that the laiter has
Volume VA Z

342 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

grown to two or three times the weight of
the former in the same space of time.

One of the certain consequences resulting
from a general inclosure, and improved hus-
bandry, would be a more plentiful supply of
nutritious diet for all kinds of animal stock ;
and the size of the various breeds of cattle
and sheep, would certainly increase propor^
tionably to the quantity and quality of their
vegetables on which they feed. A more
powerful argument in favour of a general
inclosure cannot perhaps by found

With respect to the choice of stock, at least,
in regard to size, the farmer should keep in
view the nature and quality of the soil ; as
]ive stock of every kind, and of all the various
breeds, should, in point of size, be propor-
tioned to the quantity and quality of their in-
tended food. The richest grazing land, and
the most nourishing artificial food, will cer-
tainly pay more in feeding large bullocks, sheep,
and swine, than it would do in feeding the
smaller sizes of the same species ; and it is
equally obvious, that the smaller breeds will
answer better on poor pasture than the larger.

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 343

The preference to be given to any particular
breed, of every species of live stock, should
be determined by the principal object the
breeder has in view. If it be to pofsefs a
stock that is disposed to become more early fat
with a smaller quantity of food, than another
breed, the chief thing to be done to attain
this object, will be, to procure a male and
female pofsefsing such quality in a higher
degree of perfection than others of their
species. Their offspring will certainly pof-
sefs the quality of their parents, and should
not by any means be crofsed with any other
breed but such as have the said qualities,
if not in a superior, at least in an equal
degree with themselves. And it is worthy of
attention, that a wild or unsettled disposition
in any animal, is a certain drawback on its
powers of feeding ; as, on the other hand,
a quiet, easy-tempered, docile nature, pre-
disposes such aninial to the accumulation of
fat,

If quantity of milk be the object to be at-
tained, such a cow as is mentioned in the
Lancashire Report, page 151, should by all
n)cans be procured. This cow gave twenty-
two quarts of milkdaily, and her milk, in one

Z2

344 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

week, yielded eighteen pounds of butter.
Neither labour nor expense snould'be spared
to discover the bull from whom she sprung,
for they would together be worth almost any
money. By invariably breeding in the same
family, or blood, a great acquisition would be
made, as all their offspring would undoubtedly
partake of the qualities for which their parents
are estimable. After having once procured
the best milkers, it would be absurd to admit
a crofs from any other breed, unlefs they should
have the same perfections in at least an equal
degree ; as crofsing the breed with one that
gives lefs milk than your own, must inevitably
defeat the intended object.

The same observations apply with equal
force to every other species of live stock.

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 315

ESSAY XVIII.
On the Fecundation of Vegetables.

J. iiii breeders of animals have very long
entertained an opinion, that considerable ad-
vantages are obtained by breeding from males
and females not related to each other. Though
this opinion has lately been controverted,
the number of its opposers has gradually di-
minished ^ and I can speak from my own
observation and experience, that animals de-
generate, in the size at least, on the same
pasture, and in other respects under the same
management, when this procefs of crofsing
the breed is neglected.

The close analogy between the animal and
vegetable world, and the sexual system equally
pervading both, induced me to suppose, that
similar means might be productive of similar
effects in each ; and the event has, I think,
fully ji stifled this opinion. The principal ob-
ject I had in view, was to obtain new and
improved varieties of the apple, to supply the
4 Z 3

546 ' GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

place of those which have become diseased
and unproductive, by having been cultivated
beyond the period which nature appears to
have afsigned to their existence. But, as I
foresaw that several years must elapse, before
the succefs or failure of this procefs could pos-
sibly be ascertained, I wished, in the interval,
to see what w^ould be its effects on annual
plants. Amongst these, none appeared so
■well calculated to answer my purpose as the
common pea ; not only because I could ob-
tain many varieties of this plant, of different
forms, sizes, and colours ; but also, because
the structure of its blofsom, by preventing the
ingrefs of insects and adventitious farina, has
rendered its varieties remarkably permanent.
I had a kind growing in my garden, which,
having been long cultivated in the same soil,
had ceased to be productive, and did not ap-
pear to recover the whole of its former vigour,
when removed to a soil of a somewhat differ-
ent quality ; on this, my first experiment, in
1787, was made. Having opened a dozen
of its immature blofsomsy I destroyed the male
pjirts, taking great care not to injure the fe-
male ones ; and, a few days afterwards, when
the blofsoms appeared mature, I introduced
the farina of a very large and luxuriant grey

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 347

pea into one half of the blofsoms, leaving the
other half as they were. The pods of each
grew equally well ; but I soon perceived, that
in those, into whose blofsoms the farina had
not been introduced, the seeds remained
nearly as they were before the blofsoms ex-
panded, and in that state they withered.
Those in the other pods attained maturity,
but were not in any sensible degree different
from those afforded by other plants of the same
variety ; owing, I imagine, to the external
covering of the seed (as I have found in other
plants) being furnished entirely by the female.
In the succeeding spring, the difference,
however, became extremely obvious j for
the plants from them rose with excefsive
luxuriance, and the colour of their leaves and
stems clearly indicated, that they had all ex-
changed their whitenefs for the colour of the
male parent : the seeds produced in autumn
were dark grey. By introducing the farina of
another white variety, (or, in some instances,
by simple culture,) I found this colour was
easily discharged, and a numerous variety of
new kinds produced, many of which were, in
size, and in every other respect, much superior
to the original white kind, and grew with
excefsive luxuriance, some of them attaining

Z 4

S48 ■» GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

the height of more than twelve feet. I had
frequent occasion to obaerve, in this plant, a
stronger tendency to produce purple blofsoms;
and coloured seeds, than white ones; for, when
I introduced the farina of a purple blofsom
into a white one, the whole of the seeds in
tliC succeeding year became coloured ; but,
when I endeavoured to discharge this colour,
by reversing the procefs, a part only of them
afforded plants w-ith white blofsoms ; this
part sometimes occupying one end of the
pod, and being at other times irregularly in-
termixed with those which, when sown, re-
tained their colour. It may perhaps be sup-
posed, that something might depend on the
quantity of farina employed ; but I never
could discover, in this, or in any other expe-
riment, in which superfcetation did not take
place, that the largest or smallest quantity of
farina afforded any difference in the effect pro-
duced.

The difsimilarity I observed in the offspring
afforded by different kinds of farina, in these
experiments,pointed out to me an easy method
of ascertaining whether superfcetation (the ex-
istence of which Has been admitted amongst
animals) could also take place in the vegetable

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 349

world. For, as the offspring of a white pea
is always white, unlefs the farina of a coloured
kind be introduced into the blofsom, and, as
the colour of the grey one is always trans-
ferred to its offspring, though the female be
white, it readily occurred to me, that if the
farina of both were mingled, or applied at the
same moment, the offspring of each could be-
easily distinguished.

My first experiment was not altogether suc-
cefsful J for the offspring of five pods (the
whole which escaped the birds) received their
colour from the coloured male. There was
however, a strong resemblance to the other
male, in the growth and character of more
than one of the plants ; and the seeds of se-
veral, in the autumn, very closely resembled
it in every thing but colour. In t"his experi-
ment, I used the farina of a white pea, which
pofsefsed the remarkable property of shrivelling
excefsively when ripe ^ and, in the second
year, I obtained white seeds, from the grey
ones above-mentioned, perfectly similar to it.
I am strongly disposed to believe, that the
seeds were here of common parentage ; but
1 do not conceive myself to be in pofsefsion of

350 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

facts sufficient to enable me to speak with de-
cision on this question.

If, however, the female afford the first or-
ganized atom, and the farina act only as a
stimulus, it appears to me by no means im-
pofsible, that the explosion of two vesicles of
farina, at the same moment, (taken from dif-
ferent plants,) may afford seeds (as I have sup-
posed) of common parentage ; and, as I am
unable to discover any source of inaccuracy
in this experiment, I must believe this to have
happened.

Another species of superfcetation (if I have
justly applied that term to a procefs in which
one seed appears to have been the offspring
of two males) has occurred to me so often, as
to remove all pofsibility of doubt as to its ex-
istence. In 1797, the year after I had seen
the result of the last mentioned experiment,
having prepared a great many white blofsoms,
I introduced the farina of a white and that of
a grey pea, nearly at the same moment, into
each ; and as, in the last year, the character
of the coloured male had prevailed, I used its
farina more sparingly than that of the white

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 351

^ne ; and now almost every pod afforded
plants of different colours. The majority,
however, were white ; but the characters of
the two kinds were not sufficiently distinct to
allow me to judge with precision, whether
any of the seeds produced were of common
parentage or not. In the last year, I was more
fortunate : having prepared blofsoms of the
little early frame pea, I introduced its own
farina, and immediately afterwards that of a
very large and late grey kind, and I sowed
the seeds thus obtained in the end of the last
summer. Many of them retained the colour
and character of the small early pea, not in
the slightest degree altered, and blofsomed
before they were eighteen inches highj whilst
others, (taken from the same pods,) whose
colour was changed, grew to the height of
more than four feet, and were killed bv the
frost before any blofsoms appeared.

It is evident, that in these instances super-
foetation took place 5 and it is equally evident,
that the seeds were not all of common pa-
rentage. Shouldsubsequentexperience evince,
that a single plant may be the offsprmg of two
males, the analogy between animal and ve-
getable nature may induce some curious con-

352 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

jecture, relative to the procefs of generation
ia the animal world.

In the course of the preceding experiments,
I could never observe that the character,
either of the male or female, in this plant, at
all preponderated in the offspring ; but, as this
point appeared interesting, I made a few trials
to ascertain it. And, as the foregoing obser-
vations had occurred in experiments made
principally to obtain new and improved va-
rieties of the pea, for garden culture, I chose,
for a similar purpose, the more hardy varieties
usually sown in the fields. By introducing
the farina of the largest and most luxuriant
kinds into the blofsoms of the most diminutive,
and by reversing this procefs, I found that the
powers of the male and female, in their effects
on the offspring, are exactly equal. The vigour
of the growth, the size of the seeds produced,
and the season of maturity, were the same,
though the one was a very early, and the
other a late variety. I had in this experi-
ment, a striking instance of the stimulative
effects of crolsing the breeds ; for the smallest
variety, whose height rarely exceeded two
feet, was increased to six feet ; whilst the
height of the large and luxuriant kind was

CEORGICAL ESSAYS. S53

very little diminished. By this procefs, it is
evident, that any number of new varieties
may be obtained ; and it is highly probable,
that many of these will be found better cal-
culated to correct the defects of different soils
and situations, than any we have at present ;
for, I imagine that all we now pofsefs, have
in a great measure been the produce of acci-
dent J and it will rarely happen, in this or any
other case, that accident has done all that art
will be found able to accomplish.

The suc.cefs of my endeavours to produce
improved varieties of the pea, induced me to
try some experiments on wheats but these
did not succeed to my expectations. I readily
obtained as many varieties as I wished, by
merely sowing the different kinds together;
for the structure of tlie blofsom of this plant
(unlike that of the pea) freely admits the in-
grefs of adventitious farina, and is thence very
liable to sport in varieties. Some of those I
obtained were excellent ; others very bad ; and
none of them permanent. Byseparatingthebest
varieties, a most abundant crop was produced ;
but its quality was not quite equal to the
quantity, and all the discarded varieties again
made their appearance. It appeared to me an
extraordinary circumstance, that, in the years

354 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

1795 and 1796, when almost the whole crop
of corn in the island was blighted, the varieties
thus obtained, and these only, escaped, in
this neighbourhood, though sown in several
different soils and situations.

My succefs on the apple (as far as long ex-
perience and attention have enabled me to
judge from the cultivated appearance of trees
which have not yet borne fruit) has been fully
equal to my hopes. But as the improvement
of this fruit was the first object of my attention,
no probable means of improvement, either
from soil or aspect, were neglected. Tlie
plants, however, which 1 obtained from my
efforts to unite the good qualities of two
kinds of apple, seem to pofsefs the greatest
health and luxuriance of growth, as well as
the most promising appearance in other re-
spects, in some of these, the character of
the male appears to prevail j in others, that of
the female ; and in others, both appear
blended, or neither is distinguishable. These
variations, which were often observable in the
seeds taken from a single apple, evidently
arise from the want of permanence in the cha-
racter of this fruit, when raised from seed.

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. S55

The results of similar experiments on another
fruit, the grape, were nearly the same as of
those on the apple, except that by mingling
the farina of a black and white grape, just as
the biofsoms of the latter were expanding, I
sometimes obtained plants, from the same
berry, so difsimilar, that I had good reason to
believe them the produce of superfoetation.
By taking off the cups, and destroying the
immature male parts, (as in the pea) I per-
fectly succeeded in combining the characters
of different varieties of this fruit, as far as the
changes of form, and autumnal tints, in the
leaves of the offspring, will allow me to judge.

Many experiments, of the same kind, were
tried on other plants ; but it is sufficient to
say, that all tended to evince, that im-
proved varieties of every fruit and esculent
plant may be obrained by this procefs, and
that nature intended that a sexual intercourse
should take place between neighbouring
plants of the same species. The probability
of this will, I think, be apparent, when we
take a view of the variety of methods which
nature has taken to disperse the farina, even
of those plants in which it has placed the male
and female parts within the same empale-

356 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

ment. It is often scattered by an elastic ex-
ertion of the filaments which support it, on
the first opening of the blofsom ; and its ex-
cefsive lightnefs renders it capable of being
carried to a great distance by the wind. Its
position within the blofsom is generally well
adapted to place it on the bodies of insects ;
and the villous coat of the numerous family of
bees, is not lefs well calculated to carry it,
I have frequently observed, with great plea-
sure, the dispersion of the farina of some of
the grafses, when the sun had just risen in a
dewy morning. It seemed to be impelled
from the plant with considerable force j and,
being blue, was easily visible, and very
strongly resembled, in appearance, the ex^
plosion of a grain of gunpowder. An exami-
nation of the structure of the blofsoms of
many plants, will immediately point out,
that nature has something more in view, than
that its own proper males should fecundate
each blofsom ; for the means it employs are
always those best calculated to answer the
intended purpose. But the farina is often so
placed, that it can never reach the summit of
the pointal, unlefs by adventitious means ; and
many trials have convinced me, that it has
no action on any other part of it. In promoting

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 357

this sexual intercourse between neighbouring
plants of the same species, nature appears to
me to have an important purpose in view; for,
independent of its stimulative power, this in-
tercourse certainly tends to confine within
more narrow limits, those variations which ac-
cidental richnefs or poverty of soil usually pro-
duces. It may be objected, by those who
admit the existence of vegetable mules, that,
under this extensive intercourse, these must
have been more numerous; but my total want
of succefs, in many endeavours, to produce a
single mule plant, makes me much disposed
to believe that hybrid plants have been mis-
taken for mules; and to doubt (with all the
deference I feel for the opinions of LinntEus
and his illustrious followers) whether nature
ever did, or ever will, permit the production
of such a monster. The existence of nu-
rnerous mules in the animal world, between
kindred species, is allowed; but nature has
here guarded against their production, by im-
pelling every animal to seek its proper mate;
and, amongst the feathered tribe, when, from
perversion of appetite, sexual intercourse takes
place between those of distinct genera*, it

* This is said to be the case with the drajce and the hen.
Volume Vf. A a

3p8,. GEORGICAL ESSAY*.

has, in some instances at least, rendered the i
death of the female the inevitable consequence. \
But, in the vegetable world, there is not any j
thing to direct the male to its proper female :
its farina is carried by winds and insects, to ;
plants of every different genus and species j
and it therefore nppears to me, (as vegetable
mules certainly are not common), that nature
has not permitted them to exist at ail.

I cannot dismifs this subject, without ex- i
prefsing my regret, that those who have made ]
the science of botany their study, should have j
considered the improvement of those vegeta- i
bles which, in their cultivated state, afford the
largest portion of subsistence to mankind and
other animals, as little connected with the ob-
ject of their pursuit. Hence it has happened, ]
that whilst much attention has been paid to
the improvement of every species of useful >
animal, the most valuable esculent plants
have been almost wholly neglected. But, '
when the extent of the benefit which would
arise to the agriculture of the country, from I
the pofsefbion of varieties of plants which, '
v/ith the same extent of soil and labour, i
would afford even a small increase of produce, ■
is considered, this subject appears of no in- j

G20RGICAL ESSAYS. S59

considerable importance. The improvement
of animals is attended with much expense, and
the improved kinds necefsarily extend them-
selves slowly ; but a single bushel of improved
wheat or peas, may in ten years be made to
afford seed enough to supply the whole island;
and a single apple, or other fruit-tree, may
within the same time be extended to every
garden in it.

ESSAY XIX.

On Prospective Contrivances.

i. CAN hardly imagine to myself a more dis-
tinguishing mark, and, consequently, a more
certain proof of design, than prepar at io7i, i.e.
the providing of things before hand, which
are not to be used until a considerable time
afterwards ; for this implies a conteniplation
of the future, which belongs only to intelli-
gence.

4 A a2

3oO dEORGICAL ESSAYS.

Of these prospective contrivances the bo-
dies of animals furnish various examples.

I. The human teeth afford an instance, not
only of prospective contrivance^ but of the
completion of the contrivance being designedly
suspended. They are formed within the
gums, and there they stop: the fact being,
that their further advance to maturity would
not only be uselefs to the new-born animal,
but extremely in its way; as it is evident
that the act o^ such big ^ by which it is for some
time to be nourished, will be performed with
more ease both to the nurse and to the infant,
whilst the inside of the mouth, and edges of
the gums, are smooth and soft, than, if set
with hard 'pointed bones. By the time they
are wanted, the teeth are ready. They have
been lodged within the gums for some months
past, but detained, as it were, in their sockets,
so long as their further protrusion w^ould inter-
fere with the office to which the mouth is
destined. Nature, namely, that intelligence
which was employed in creation, looked be-
yond the first year of the infant's life ; yet,
whilst she was providing for functions which
were after that term to become necefsary,
was careful not to incommode those which

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 361

preceded them. What renders it more pro-
bable that this is the etiect of design is, that
the teeth are imperfect, whilst all other parts
of the mouth are perfect. The lips arc per-
fect, the tongue is perfect ; the cheeks, the
jaws, the palate, the pharynx, the larynx, are
ail perfect. The teeth alone are not so.
This is the fact with respect to the human
mouth : the fact also is, that the parts above
enumerated, are called into use trom the be-
ginning ; whereas the teeth would be only so
many obstacles and annoyances, if they were
there. AVhcn a contrary order is necef^ary,
a contrary order prevails. In the worm ot
the beetle, as hatched from the egg, the teeth
are the first things which arrive at perfection.
The jnsect begins to gnaw as soon as it
escapes from the shell, though its other parts
be only gradually advancing to their maturity.

What has been observed of the teeth, i i
true ot the harm of animals j and for the
same reason. The horn of a calf or lamb
does not bud, or at least does not sprout to
any considerable length, until the animal be
capable of browsing upon its pasture j be-
cause such a substance upon the forelicad of
the young animal, would very much incom-

A a 3

562 SEORGICAL ESSAYS.

mode the teat of the dam in the office of
giving suck.

But in the case of the teeth, of the human
teeth at least, the prospective contrivance
looks still further. A succefsion of crops is
provided, and provided from the beginning;
a second tier being originally formed beneath
the first, which do not come into use till se-
veral years afterwards. And this double or
suppletary provision meets a difficulty in the
mechanism of the mouth, which would have
appeared almost unsurmountable. The ex-
pansion of the jaw, (the consequence of the
proportionable growth of the animal, and of
its skull,) necefsarily separates the teeth of the
first set, however compactly disposed,, to a
distance from one another, which would be
very inconvenient. In due time therefore,
i. e. when the jaw has attained a great part
of its dimensions, a new set of teeth springs
up, (loosening and pushing out the old ones
before them), more exactly fitted to the space
which they are to occupy, and rising albO in
such close ranks, as to allow for any exten-
sion of line which the subsequent enlarge*
ment of the head may occasion.

georgical essays. 3G3

^I- It is not very easy to conceive a more
evidently prospective contrivance, tlian that
which, in all viviparous animals, is found in
the miUc of the female parent. At the moment
the young animal enters the world, there is its
maintenance ready for it. The particulars to
be remarJced in this osconomy are neither few
nor slight. We have, first, the nutritious qua-
lity of the fluid, unlike, in this respect, every
other excretion of the bodyj and in which
nature hitherto remains unlmitated, neither
cookery nor chymistry having been able to
make milk out of grafs : we have, secondly,
that organ for its reception and retention .
we have, thirdly, the excretory duct, an-
nexed to it : and we have, lastly, the deter-
mination of the milk to the breast, at the
particular juncture when It is about to be
wanted. We have all these properties in the
subject before us ; and they arc all Indications
of design. The last circumstance is the
strongest of any. If I had been to guefs be-
fore-hand, I should have conjectured, that, at
the time when there was an extraordinarv de-
niand for nourishment in one part of the system,
there would be the least likelihood of a re-
dundancy to supply another part. The ad-
vanced pregnancy of the female has no in-

A a I

364 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

telligible tendency to fill the breasts with milk.
The lacteal system is a constant wonder; and
it adds to other causes of our admiration,
that the number of the teats or paps in each
species is found to bear a proportion to the
number of the young. In the sow, the bitch,
the rabbit, the cat, the rat, which have nu-
merous litters, the paps are numerous and are
disposed along the whole length of the belly :
in the cow and mare they are few. The most
simple account of this, is to refer it to a de-
signing Creator.

In the argument before us, we are entitled
to consider not only animal bodies when
framed, but the circumstances under which
they are framed. And, in this view of the
subject, the constitution of many of their
parts, is, most strictly, prospective.

III. The eye is of no use, at the time when
it is formed. It is an optical instrument made
in a dungeon 3 constructed for the refraction
of light to a focus, and perfect for its pur-
pose, before a ray of light has had accefs to it;
geometrically adapted to the properties and
action of an element, with which it has no
communicatipn. It is about indeed to enter

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. "^^05

'into that communication; and this is pre-
cisely the thing which evidences intention.
It is providing for the future in the closest
sense which can be given to these terms ;
for it is providing for a future change : not
'for the then subsisting condition of the animal .;
not for any gradual progrefs or advance in
that same condition ; but for a new state, the
consequence of a great and sudden alteration,
which the animal is to undergo at its birth.
Is it to be believed that the eye was formed,
or, which is the same thing, that the series
of causes was fixed by which the eye is
formed, without a view to this change ; with-
out a prospect of that condition, in which
its fabric, of no use at present, is about to be
of the greatest j without a consideration of the
qualities of that element, hitherto entirely
excluded, but with which it was hereafter to
hold so intimate a relation? A young man
makes a pair of spectacles for himself against
he grows old ; for wiiich spectacles he has no
want or use whatever at the time he makes
them. Could this be done without knowing
and considering the detect of vision to which
advanced age is subject ? Would not the
}>reci5c suitablenefs of the instrument to its
purpose, of the remedy tQ tlie defect, of the

5j66 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

convex lens to the flattened eye, establish the
certainty of the conclusion, that the case, af-
terwards to arise, had been considered be-
forehand, speculated upon, provided for ? all
which are exclusively the acts of a reafon-
ing mind. The eye formed in one state, for
use only in another state, and in a difl'erent
state, affords a proof no lefs clear of desti-
nation to a future purpose ^ and a proof pro-
portionably stronger, as the machinery is
more complicated, and the adaptation more
exact.

IV. What has been said of the eye, holds
equally true of the lungs. Composed of air-
vefsels, where there is no air ; elaborately con-
structed for the alternate admifsion and ex-
pulsion of an elastic fluid, where no such
fluid exists ; this great organ, with the whole
apparatus belonging to it, lies collapsed in the
foetal thorax, yet in order, and in readinefs
for action, the first moment that the occasion
requires its service. This is having a machine
locked up in store for future use ; which
incontestibly proves, that the case was ex-
pected to occur, in which this use might be
experienced ; but expectation is the proper
act of intelligence. Considering the state in

CEORGICAL ESSAYS. S67

which an animai exists before its birth, I should
look for nothing lefs in its body than a system
of lungs. It is like finding a pair of bellows
in the bottom of the sea ; of no sort of use in
the situation in which they are found ; formed
for an action which was impofsible to be
exerted ; holding no relation or fitnefs to the
clement which surrounds them, but both to
another element in another place.

As part and parcel of the same plan, ought
to be mentioned, in speaking of the lungs,
the provisionary contrivances of the foramen
ovale and ductus arteriosus. In the foetus,
pipes are laid for the pafsage of the blood
through the lungs ; but, until the lungs be
inflated by the inspiration of air, that paf-
sage is impervious, or in a great degree ob-
structed. What then is to be doner What
would an artist, what would a master, do
upon the occasion ? He would endeavour,
most probably, to provide a temporary pafsage,
which might carry on the communication
required, until the other was open. Nov^r
this is the thing, which is actually done in
tlie heart. Instead of the circuitous rjute
through the lungs, which the blood after-

5,p8 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

wards takes, before it gets from one auricle of
the heart to the other j a portion of the blood
pafses immediately from the right auricle to
the left, through a hole, placed in the parti-
tion which separates these cavities. This
hole anatomists call the foramen ovale. There
is likewise another crofs cut, answering the
same purpose, by what is called the ductus
arteriosuSy lying between the pulmonary ar-
tery and the aorta. But both expedients are
so strictly temporary, that, after birth, the one
pafsage is closed, and the tube which forms
the other, shrivelled up into a ligament. If
this be not contrivance, what is ?

But, forasmuch as the action of the air upon
the blood in the lungs, appears to be necefsary
to the perfect concoction of that fluid, i. e. to
the life and health of the animal, (otherwise the
shortest route might still be the best,) hovf
comes it to pafs that \\\ef(etus lives, and grows,
and thrives without it ? The answer is, that
the blood of the foetus is the mother's ; that it
has undergone that action in her habit ; that
one pair of lungs serves for both. When the
animals are separated, a new necefsity arises ;
and to rpcet this necefsity as soon as it occurs.

GEORGICAL ESSAtS. 369

an org^anization is prepared. It is ready for
its purpose : it only waits for the atmosphere :
it begins to play, the moment the air is ad-
mitted to it.

ESSAY XX.

The Economxj of a Dutch Dahy.

J- HE economy of the Dutch, in the manage-
ment of their milch cows, being an object
worthy of inquiry, I here offer such infor-
mation on the subject, as my cursory notes,
made some years since on the spot, furnish
me with, on the insp:'ction cf three great cow-
houses at Utrecht, Harlaem, and Amsterdam ;
which were constructed on im oblong square,
and of a moderate height, with a slight floor
over head, for a certain occasional quantity of
hay cut out of a Dutch barn adjoining the
cow-house. The building within was airy
aiid luminous; its length determined by the

370 GEORGICAL ESSATS.

number of the cows, which might amouat
from forty to sixty, or more, and from three
to four feet allowed to each cow — its breadth
from thirty to forty feet, which may thus be
distributed : twelve feet in the centre, be-
tween two rows of cows, including a sloping
gutter on either side, in the front of, and in a
line with, the heads of the cows ; five feet on
either side for their standing, and immediately
behind their tails a gutter two feet wide, and
nearly as many deep, and also a four feet walk
on either side, behind each gutter. The centre
walk is paved with clinkers, and kept very
clean, and sanded, between which and the
two sloping channels, paved likewise w^ith
clinkers, (one in each front rowof the cows,] is a
thick board, a foot and a half high, fixed edge-
"ways, to keep the hay, &c. on which the cows
are fed, within the bounds of the channel.
The cows are tied up with a slight chain, or
rope round the neck, fastened to an iron ring,
running up and down a fixed post; under
the standing of the fore and hind feet of the
cows, fir timber, a foot and half wade, is ex-
tended the whole length of the houfe (as
stone, or any harder substance, would pro-
bably founder their feet) and the interval filled
up with a floor of sand and lime, gradugjly

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. S71

deprefsed towards the middle, the better to
receive the incumbent belly of the cow. The
timber, on which the hind feet stand, is rather
higher than that in front, both to enable the
cow to reach her meat the more easily, and
likewise to eject her excrements the more
cleanly. Each cow's tail is platted, and, to
promote cleanlinefs, tied by a slight cord
fastened to a narrow slip of deal, nailed above,.:
which prevents their flourishing their tails,:^
but not their lying down. ,i

Theirfood is hay, with repeated warmraelses
of grains, boiled turnips, potatoes, cabbage,.j
refuse carrots, oil-cake, buck-wheat, &c. 8ic.»
which are placed before them in the front
channel above-mentioned, at the upper end .
of wliich is fixed a pump to supply them with •
water, which they drink, as it glides gently
down before them in the said channel ; and
in very cold weather, the pump water Is tern- »
pered with hot water. In order to remove
the excrements in the gutter before-^men-
tioned, a square board, fixed in a long handle,
the exact breadth of the clinker-paved gutter,
is used, with which they are pushed down
the gutter, and through an opening at the ex-
tremity of the house, into a deep pit made to

S72 GEORGlCAL ESSAYS.

receive them ; and afterwards, by means of a
long spout, water is conveyed from the pump
into the gutter, which is washed perfectly
clean, twice, or ottener, in the day ; as also is
the channel in front of the cows. As the
cows remain constantly tied up, from the
time they relurn irom pasture to their winter
quarters, in November or December, accord-
ing to the season of the year, till they go to
grafs in April, it is surprising, from this ar-
rangement and economy, with what facility
and thrift a great number of cows are taken
care of by very few hands ; and also with what
neatnefs, though they are allov^-ed no litter,
but w^hat little refuse hay is left by them.
The eye of the master indeed is always upon
them ; for at the upper end of their house he
also has usually his abode, divided only by a
running curtain, but fitted up with every con-
venience, and in the neatest manner, for con-
ducting the dairy, as coppers for boiling
water, and the various mefses for the cows, &c.
In short, no people on earth (the Chinese not
excepted) study and practice the " inultiim in
parvo'^ more afsiduously, and with greater
succefs, than the patient, industrious, frugal,
provident Dutchman, among whom many in-
genious contrivances in all arts and profefsions

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 373

are to be found, worthy the imitation of the
most enlightened nations. When the cows
go to grafs, they are clothed, (at least those
which are tender, or have lately calved) with
a coarse hempen jacket extending from the
shoulders to the rump, and half way down
the ribs, and fastened by strings under the
legs ; the intention of which is to guard those
which are tender, &c. after their winter's conr
finement, from the perpendicular dews, which
are very heavy in their low, deep rich mea-
dows, and likewise to increase their milk,
which warmth very efsentially contributes to do.
The same precaution is adopted, I understand,
in winter, before they return to house, if the
weather is severe, or when a cow calves late,
"While at grafs, their keepers avail themselves
of every opportunity to supply them with
brewers wash, &c. which from habit they
drink greedily, in preference to such un-
palatable (if not brackish) water as their dykes
usually afford.

After the cows quit their winter quarters,
their house is cleaned with the 2:reatest nice-
nefs, and even the boards washed, and scoured
with hot v/ater, sand, and soap; but not-
withstanding all this neatnefs, and the con-

Volume VL B b

374 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

stant care and attention of their owners, it
sometimes happens, as in 1772 and 1773,
that they lose the greater part of their stock :
the bowels were generally first attacked, and,
that so violently as to prove fatal in a few
hours. This distemper then prevailed not
only in the cow-houses, but pursued the poor
animals to their pastures, in one of which half
the herd would be swept off in a few days,
and all escape perhaps in that adjoining ;
while in a third neighbouring pasture the
distemper raged with equal violence as in the
first. No lefs various was the conduct of the
several proprietors on this occasion — some
considered the distemper as a judgment from
heaven, and thought it in vain, if not impious,
to attempt any means for their recovery.
Others, lefs superstitious, adopted the most
celebrated remedies, and left no means un-
efsayed to oppose the virulence of the dis-
temper, but with little succefs. It is remark-
able, that the cows in Flanders are generally
very healthy, notwithstanding they lie on their
dung, more or lefs, the year round. The
Flemish peasant keeps his cattle rather in a
cave, than a cow-house, and instead of carry-
ing out the dung, fresh litter, and dry sand, or
earth, is added daily to it, so that before this

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 375

cave, or cow-house, is cleaned out, the cattle
stand six feet, or more, higher than the floor.
His milch cows (as well as horses) are housed
every night, even in the summer, and are fed
with trefoil, or clover, or vetches, &c. and let
out to feed in the pastures early in the morn-
ing, and brought back to house about ten ;
have trefoil, Sic. till four in the afternoon,
and are then turned out till eight ; by which
means an immense quantity of the richest
manure is raised in Flanders during the whole
summer, which, by cattle being kept in the
fields in that season in all other countries,
becomes the food of flies, and the sport of
winds. Fatting bullocks alone are permitted
to lie abroad day and night in Flanders, other-
wise they would not fat in very hot weather.
In winter, the Flemings feed their cows with
hot mefses, &c. nearly as the Dutch do.

B\^2

GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

ESSAY XXI.

On the Benotation of old Pear-trees. \

I

XiNDiNG the pear-trees in Kensington Gar- ;

dens in a very cankery and unfruitful state, in I

the years 1784 and 1785, I took out the old '

mould from the borders against the walls, and :

put in fresh loam in its stead ; at the same '
time I pruned and nailed the trees in the

common way, and left them in that state up- ;

wards of eighteen months, to see what effect :
the fresh mould would have on them -, but,

to my great surprise, I found that it had no :

good eifect. I

I

After I had tried the fresh mould as above,
I bes^an to consider what was best to be

done with so many old pear-trees that were |

worn out. The fruit that they produced I '

could not send to his Majesty's table with \

any credit to myself, it being small, hard, and i
kernellv. 1 thought it would be a great re-

JO O '

flection on me, as a profefsional man, that '

after I had put his Majesty to so great an ex- '

CEORGICAL ESSAYS. 577

pense, no advantage was likely to be derived
from it. I saw that some method must be
tried to restore these old trees, or that next
year they must be grubbed up, and was loath
to give them entirely up before I had tried some
experiments. I considered that it must be
between twelve and fourteen years before I
could have any fruit from young trees ; and
therefore determined to try an experiment,
with a view to recovering the old ones.

I began with cutting down four old and
decayed pear-trees of different kinds, near to
the place where they had been grafted : this
operation was performed on the 1 5th of May
1786. Finding that they put forth fine shoots,
I headed down four more on the 20th of June,
in the same year (for by this time, the former
had shoots of a foot long), which did equally
well, and bore some fruit in the following
year. One of the first four that I headed
down was a St. Germain, which produced nine-
teen fine, large, well-flavoured pears next year,
and in the third bore more fruit than it did in
its former state when it was four times the
size.

I left seven trees upon an east wall, treated

Bb3

S78 GEORGICAL ESSAYS*

according to the common method of pruning,
which bore the following number of pears
upon each tree.

Epine dliiver produced eighty-six peai:§,
and the tree spread fifteen yards.

A crasane produced one hundred pears, and
the tree spread fourteen yards.

Another crasane produced sixteen pears,
and the tree spread ten yards,

A virgouleiise produced one hundred and
fifty pears, and the tree spread nine yards.

A colmar produced one hundred and fifty
pears, and the tree spread nine yards.

AnothercoZ/wflfr produced seventy-nine pears,
and the tree spread ten yards,

A Veschasserie produced sixty pears.

Seven trees headed down and pruned ac-
cording to my method, leaving the fore-right
shoots in summer, bore as follows, in the fourth
y^ar after heading.

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 879

A louisbornie bore four hundred and sixty-
three pears, and the tree spread nine yards.

Another louisbonne bore three hundred and
ninety-one pears, and spread eight yards.

A colmar bore two hundred and thirteen
pears, and spread six yards.

A broxvn beurre bore five hundred and three
pears.

Another brown beurre bore five hundred
and fifty pears.

A crasane bore five hundred and twenty
pears,

A virgoideuse bore five hundred and eighty
pears.

The branches of the four last trees spread
nearly in the same proportion as the first
three.

A young beurre, the second year after head-
ing, bore two hundred and thirty pears ^ and
a St. Germain four hundred.

Bb 4

580 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

All the above trees stood upon the same
aspect and the same wall, and the fruit was
numbered in the same year. A great many
pears which dropped from the trees are not
reckoned. The trees that were pruned ac-
cording to the old practice, covered at least
one-third more wall than the others.

By the above statement, it appears, that the
trees headed down, bore upwards of five tinaes
the quantity of fruit that the others did ; and
it keeps increasing in proportion to the pro-
grefs of the trees.

On the 20th of June I headed several
standards that were almost destroyed by the
canker ; some of them were so loaded with
fruit the following year, that I was obliged to
prop the branches, to prevent their being
broken down by the weight of it. In the
fourth year after these standards were headed
down, one of them bore two thousand eight
hundred and forty pears. There were three
standards on the same border with the above,
two of which were St. Germains ; the old
tree was of the same kind. One of these
trees *j twenty years old, had five hundred

* This tree was about six years old when I planted
it, fourteen years ago.

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 581

pears on it, which was a great crop for its
size ; so that there were on the old tree,
which had been headed down not quite four
years, two thousand three hundred and forty
pears more than on the tree of twenty years
growth.

ESSAY XXII.

On Tares,

JMajjy farmers in the county of Middlesex,
grow a few acres of tares, and the culture of
them is extended every year, from the circum-
stance of their importance becoming better
understood. It is a considerable degree of
gratification to me, to have been the first who
sowed them on a large scale, and publicly
recommended diem to the notice of farmers,
as highly deserving to be introduced into a re-
gular rotation of crops. After several years
more experience of their utility, it is impofsible
for me to say so much in their favour as they

582 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

deserve. They may be made the principal
means of enabling the arable farmer to sup-
port as much live stock as the grazier. For
during the time they occupy the ground, they
produce more green food of the best quality,
per acre, than Romney-marsh or Pevensey-
level ; and the ground may be cleared of them
in the month of June, in such good time as
to admit of loamy sands producing a crop of
clean turnips in the same year, and of clayey
loams being prepared and sown with wheat.
They support cattle ; will make both sheep
and bullocks, of every size and breed, fat ^ they
suit every situation, and will flourish on all
the variety of soils in this country, from the
gravel-hills near Dartford, in Kent, to the stiflf
yellow clays in the wealds of Sufsex. They
do not depend on any particular market^ and,
above all, they manure the land fit for the im-
mediate reception of turnips ; whereby a sue-
cefsion of green crops can be kept up, that
would fat a very increased quantity of live
stock, and be the means of raising, in situa-
tions the most distant from towns, an abund-
ance of those great sources of fertility, dung
and urine. A judicious combination of tares
with turnips, clover, and sainfoin, may be the
pieans of rendering our poor sheep-walks.

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 383

downs, and wastes, of ten to thirty times their
present value to the community.

1 . Preparation. — If the land be poor, or at
least not rich, manure it, otherwise not; plough
it thinly into ridges, well calculated to keep
it dry ; sow broitdcast, and hariow in the
seed.

2. Sort. — There are two sorts ; the winter
tare and the spring tare. The former is the
most sown, and is sufficiently hardy to stand
all the changes of weather, even the severest
degrees of frost ever experienced in England,
pr, I believe, in Great Britain.

S. Steep. — None used. Though, for sowing
in any very dry season, it would be advisable
to steep the seed.

4. Seed, — In the middle of the season, sow
about two bushels and a half, on soils mo-
derately rich ; but early sowing and rich soils
require lefs seed than poor soils and late sow-
ing.

Many persons sow a little rye among win-
ter tares ; and some intelligent men sow a
email quantity of barley among spring tares.

S84 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

5. Time of Sowing. — From the middle of
August to the middle of October. If the land
be poor, or the situation exposed, by all means
sow early, even in August ; and in all cases, it
is advisable to sow at different periods — early,
medium, and late, in order to have succefsion
of them for feed the ensuing spring.

6. Culture. — A light roller should be drawn
over them during the first dry time in March,
to prepare the ground for the scythe j and the
most rank weeds should be drawn by hand in
April.

7. Harvesting , — They begin to blof&om in
ISIay, and from that time, I am of opinion,
the farmer's stock should be wholly supported
on them till the blofsoms begin to fall off, and ^
the formation of pods to take place -, at which
time, all that are left should be made into hay,
unlefs pods should appear in large quantities,
and supposing them to be of the true winter
sort. The farmer should, in that case, reserve
seed enough for his own use s otherwise he
should make them all into hay. If the land
has been dunged, and the seed good, there
will probably be a crop of twelve tons of green
tares, or three tons of hay ; and, provided they

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 385

are well cured, it will be the best hay on the
farm. But tares require a considerable de-
gree of sun. Rain is very injurious to them.
In case a continuance of wet weather should
happen after they are cut, it would be difficult
to make them into hay at all, at least of a
good and salutary quality. On account of
this risk, I would recommend that all the
stock of a farm should be soiled on them
green; and in doing so, it will necefsarily
have the good effect of taking the stock off
the grafs land long enough to allow of its be-
ing mown for hay. By this means the far-
mer's meadow hay will be much increased in
quantity ; he will not have occasion for pas-
ture (the tares abundantly supplying the place
of the richest pasturage), and by the time that
the cattle return from green tares, the grafs
Jand in the mean time having been mown,
will be ready to receive them. I conceire
that I may justly be allowed to estimate the
value of tares, as if they were all made into
hay, as this will be the case with a great
part of them. The rest will preserve an ad-
ditional quantity of meadow hay, perhaps equal
to their own weight.

Spring tares produce rather a lighter crop,

386 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

and are subject to much risk from a dry sum-
mer. There is no difference in their applica-
tion, or value per ton ; but the spring sort
coming a fortnight later, it seems to be con-
venient and advisable to grow some of each
sort, and to have a sucdefsion of them for green
food all the summer.

As to the manner of giving them to cattle,
it would be wasteful in the extreme to turn
live stock into a field of tares, as their tread-
ing and lying down would do great mischief
to the crop, even by feeding it in small patches
hurdled off. The most advisable method
would be, to mow the tares off the first half
acre, and to carry the produce into the stables,
cow-houses, and fold-yards, or on to poor land,
to be consumed by stock. Then to hurdle
the growing tares from such cleared ground,
into which put the stock, and feed them all
with the tares, given to them inracks, removing
the hurdles and the racks forward daily to the
edge of the growing tares, which will manure
the land uniformly, and deposit all the urine
in the soil. Or a very " good method, is to
" feed them through rack hurdles, which are
" made the same as the common five-railed
*' ones, only leaving the middle rail out, and

GEORCICAL ESSAYS. 387

** nailing upright pieces acrofs, at proper
'* distances, to admit the sheep to put their
" heads through. A svvarth of vetches be-
*' ing mown in the direction you wish to
" plough the land, a sufficient number of these
" hurdles, allowing one to five sheep, are set
*^ close to it : at noon the shepherd mows
^^ another swarth, and throws it to the hurdles,
*' and the same at night : next morning, a
*' swarth being first mown, the hurdles are
" again set; thus moving them once in the
** twenty-four hours, by this trifling additional
" trouble, the vetches are eaten clean off, and
" the land equally benefited*.''

8. Thrashing. — The seed thrashes out very
leadily by the fiail.

9. Produce. — I have weighed a sufficient
quantity of green tares to know, that the pro-
duce was twelve tons per acre ; and when
made into hay, it was three tons; which in
this country is worth from twelve to fifteen
guineas per acre. In more distant places,
where meadow hay sells from fifty shillings
to three pounds per load, the tares wWl be

* Gloucester Report, *to, p. 17.

38^ GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

worth from seven pounds ten shillings to nintf
pounds per acre. The seed will sell from
five shillings to twenty-one shillings per bushel.
A neighbour of mine, who grew tares on my
recommendation, permitted one field to stand
for seed : it produced upwards of forty bushels
per acre*.

It is an advantage of great importance, that
turnips require such late sowing, as to give
the farmer an opportunity of reaping two
green crops on the same land in one year,
both of which may be fed by cattle. A suc-
cefsion of tares and turnips may be raised and
consumed on dry land, till it acquires any de-
sired decree of richnefs ; and will feed more
bullocks and sheep than the best grafs land
in the kingdom. Romney-marsh feeds five
or six sheep, per acre, per annum. An acre
of loamy sand, only moderately rich, cropped
with tares in the spring, and turnips in the
autumn, will fatten twenty of the same sheep.
And what is of great consequence, the land
will be perfectly clean, and fit for every sort

* An experienced farmer in Holdernefs had no fuc-
cefs with winter (ares till lie sowed them in July. To
this the north country farmers should attend, A. H.

5

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 589

of corn during the whole time. But they
are crops that are perfectly incompatible with
common fields, and for that reason, more than
any other, they are so little grown in England.
Inclose the common fields, and the tare and
turnip husbandry will become general ; which
will be the most effectual means of load-
ing our shambles with meat, and filling our
granaries with corn.

ESSAY XXIII.

On the Poor Laws in Scotland.

X HAT the poor, the aged, the infirm and
destitute, ought to be relieved and supported
by the community to which they belong, is a
principal inculcated by the laws of nature and
revelation, and generally enjoined by the
statute-law of every well regulated society.
The great object to be attended to, in the
exercise of this virtuous principle, is, to
draw the proper line of distinction betwixt
Voluvie VL C c

S90 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

callousnefs of heart and indifference about the
concerns of the poor (on the one hand,) and
the making such hberal provisions for their
support (on the other,) as to hold out a
temptation to want of frugality and economy,
by encouraging sloth and idlenefs, which
seldom fail to produce profligacy of manners ;
and these in their turn, by creating want, are
certain of resolving Into abject meannefs of
spirit, and dependence upon others; which,
of all things, tend most to degrade the cha-
racter, and lead to the very evil which the
public provisions for the poor was meant to
correct.

These positions cannot be better Illustrated,
than by the opposite effects produced by the
operation of the poor-laws, and their ma-
nagement, in the two divisions of this island.

There is no country where greater liberality
is displayed by all ranks of people than in
Scotland ; where the poor are provided for at
lefs expense ; and where greater sobriety and
decency prevails among that description of
people, and more of that modesty and hu-
mility, becoming their situation. Whereas in
England, the provision for the poor is most

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. S91

exorbitant. The burden is becoming every
day more intolerable, and will undoubtedly,
at no distant period, rouze the attention, and
call forth the vigorous interference of the le-
gislature, to remedy a growing evil, which
threatens to overwhelm the country. Besides
the immensity of the sums allotted for the
poor, to the amount (it is believed) of several
millions a year, it is scarce to be supposed
that they will, in every instance, be managed
with the most perfect economy. But what,
in a national view, is the worst of all ; this
liberal provision, which was meant for good,
is productive of the very worst of evils to the
poor themselves. Persons of that description,
knowing that the laws of the country have
made ample provision for them, when reduced
by sicknefs, misfortunes, or arrived at old age,
never study to exert themselves to save a
small pittance of their earnings, to support
them in these times of unavoidable distrefs,
but squander (in riot and drunkennefs) every
sixpence that is not absolutely requisite for
bare necefsaries. Tlie obvious consequence,
therefore, of too liberal a provision for the
poor, must be to increase their number ; and
by holding out a temptation to the neglect of
economy, indirectly to corrupt their morals,
5 C c 2

392 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

by encouraging luxury, profligacy, and every

species of low debauchery. j

In Scotland, except in towns, it may be i

truly said, that there is no provision at all for ,

the poor i and yet there are few orno countries \

where they are lefs numerous, and more hu- '
manely attended to. The general views of

the Scottish legislature, respecting the poor, I

were most just and laudible. Their aim was ;

to guard, as far as human foresight and pru- |

dence could do, against idlenefs and profli- '■
gacy, as being the immediate harbingers of

povery, distrefs, and degradation. They took \

care to make provision for the poor, but it ;

was only for the sober and industrious poor ; ;

while they threatened, with their utmost ven- ^

geance, all vagrants, sturdy beggars, and ;

masterlefs persons. In the oldest laws, upon '

this subject, it is exprefsly ordained ' That :

' none be permitted to beg betwixt the ages ,

* of 14 and 70, until, after examination, it be '
' found that they are not able to gain a live- i

* lihood otherways ; when they are to receive i

* badges, to entitle them to beg ; and all '
' others are to apply themselves to work, under j
' the pain of burning on the cheek, and ba- '

* nishment.' Acts, 1424, 1457, 1505. And I

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 39S

by a subsequent act, in 1535, none were per-
mitted to beg, except in the parish where
they were born. And by act 1551, none are
permitted to be served with alms, except those
who have badges. To encourage the same
idea of industry and frugality, by an act in
1617, ' indigent children going about idle,

* may be compelled to serve any of the king's
' subjects without wages, till the age of

* 30 years.' And, by an act pafsed in 1663,
vagrants and sturdy beggars may be also com-
pelled to serve any manufacturer. As persons
of this last description were generally of such
depraved characters, and had contracted such
habits of idlenefs, few were willing to receive
them into their service j therefore, by an act
pafsed in 1672, cap. 16. work-houses are or-
dained to be built for setting them to work.
The acts against vagrants, and, as they are
termed, * strong and idle beggars,' are in-
numerable.

But while the general spirit and tendency
of all the statute-laws, relating to the poor,
set the strongest brand of infamy upon idle-
nefs and profligacy, their humanity and libe-
rality are no lefs conspicuous. By act 1535,
c. 22. the poor, who cannot work, must b:

Cc 3

594 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

maintained by the parishes in which, they
were born , and when the place of their
nativity is not known, it is ordained, by
acts 1663, cap. 16, and 169S, cap. 21, that
the burden falls upon the parishes where they
have had their most common resort for the
three years preceding their being apprehended,
or their applying for the public charity. And
this period of three years residence seems
now to be generally adopted, as being that
which gives a title to parish maintenance,
whether the place of their nativity be known
or not.

Magistrates and Judges are authorised and
ordained to make up a list of the poor in their
several parishes, and to send them to the pa-
rishes to which they belong, where houses are
to be provided for them, at the public ex-
pense, either separately, or with others ; and
for their maintenance, if circumstances should
so require. The whole inhabitants of the
parish, without exception, are appointed to
be taxed, according to their substance, for
such weekly charge and contribution as shall
be thought sufficient to maintain the said poor.
Act 1579, cap. 74. This power of taxing
for the poor, is again, by act 166S, cap. 16,

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. S95

vested in the heritors, with this addition, that
the poor, who are able to work, are to be
offered to any within the parish, who will re-
ceive them, who are to have their work till
they attain 30 years of age ; and failing of
being so provided for, they are to be sent
to the house of correction. Confirmed by
act 1672, cap. 18.

Whether it was owing to heritors becoming
remifs in taxing themselves and their tenants
for the maintenance of the poor, or that any
circumstance of public utility required it, it
is enjoined, by an act of Privy Council,
11th Aug, 1692, that the ministers and elders
of every parish shall be joined in commifsion
with the heritors, when they meet to afsefs
themselves and their tenants, for maintaining
the poor ; and in that act there is this im-
portant clause, * Whoever shall give alms to

* any beggar not of the parish, and shall not

* seize (or cause to be seized) the beggar, to

* be sent back to his own parish, shall be

* fined in 20s. to be applied to the use of the

* poor.' This, and several other acts and
proclamations of Privy Council, are confirmed
and ratified by acts 1695, cap. 43, and 1698,
cap. 21. So that this power of ministers,

Cc 4

396 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

elders, and heritors to meet, when necefsary,
and tax themselves and their tenants for main-
taining the poor of the parish, who are unable
to work, stands unrepealed in the statute-
book, as a part of the statute-law for the ma-
nagement of the poor ; and by these laws the
heritors can only claim the one-half of the
contributions collected at the church, to be
publicly applied for that purpose.

Notwithstanding that the latest unrepealed
acts of the Scottish Parliaments evidently au-
thorise this taxing, when absolutely necefsary,
yet the good sense of the nation seems to have
declined this pernicious system, at least in
country parishes ; and it may be now said to
have nearly gone into disuse, as a measure of
common and ordinary regulation. There are
only a very few parishes in Scotland, where
this system of taxation for the poor prevails ;
and these, to their sad experience, feel the
bitter consequences of it, in the increase of
their poor and poors rates, and all the con-
sequent idlenefs, profligacy, and want of fore-
sight and frugality, which must ever accom-
pany a too liberal provision for the poor in
any parish.

GEORGICAL ESSAYS, 397

So little is it now supposed that there is any
law existing, for obliging heritors and tenants
to afsefs themselves, for maintaining the poor,
that when a farm is to be let in lease, it never
once enters into the head of either the one or
the other, that they will have a single shilling
to pay on that account, during the continuance
of the case. A tenant takes the farm as dear
as if there never had been a law made to that
purpose, and he sits secure, that nothing, but
some extraordinary public calamity, will ever
occasion these laws to be executed.

Except in the cases to be afterwards men-
tioned, there is, perhaps, no country in the
world, where the poor are more humanely and
carefully attended to, than in Scotland, and at
lefs expense. From time immemorial, the con-
tributions collected weekly, at the parish
churches throughout the country, have been
their only fund of support ; and this fund is
almost, if not altogether, left under the ma-
nagement of the ministers and elders of the
country parishes, who receive the collections,
appoint the distributions, as the necefsities of
the poor may require, meet quarterly or an-
nually, to settle and balance their treasurer's
accounts 3 and all this without any fee or

398 GEORGICAL ESSAYS,

reward whatever, except the consciousnefs of
doing good. In some parishes there are some
small funds in money, arising either from
former savings, or legacies bequeathed to the
poor, by charitable and well-disposed persons.
But even with these it would appear, from
Sir John Sinclair's Statistical Account, that
the expense of maintaining the poor, in
country parishes, seldom reaches farther than
from 101. to 201. a year ; and yet, with this
small provision, joined with the private cha-
rity of the inhabitants, the poor are well sup-
plied and live comfortably.

The most beneficial effect of this system is,
that, being in itself so small, people in the
lower ranks of life, never look towards it, as
their resource, under sicknefs and old age.
Indeed, the accepting of charity is purely a
matter of necefsity with them, and not of
choice; where it is almost invariably con-
sidered as degrading and demeaning the cha-
racter, from being the effect of sloth or thrift-
lefsnefs in the former period of life. So great,
commonly,is the horror, or aversion entertained
upon this subject (of receiving charity,) that
the most humiliating and unsufferable term of
reproach that can be cast upon any one, is.

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 399

that their parents or near relatives were sup-
ported by the Sefsion, as it is called -, that is,
from the public collections at the church,
which are under the management of the
minister and elders of the parish, who compose
the sefsion or consistory of the parish. So
powerful is this sentiment among people in
the lower ranks in Scotland, that, in order
that this odium may never fall upon their
offspring, they study to live with the utmost
frugality, that they may |3e able to give them
some education, accustom them early to habits
of industry, or place them out to trades ; and,
at the same time, to save something for old
age, and to bury them decently, without
being obliged to depend on public charity at
that momentous crisis. To have wherewith
to purchase a coffin and a winding-sheet, if
they should have nothing more, is the height
of their ambition. Such is the happy influence
of wise regulations, in forming the characters
and manners of mankind !

It will readily be conceived, that what has
been observed just now about the state of the
poor, is chiefly applicable to the poor in
country parishes. In cities and great towns,
they are under different regulations and ma-

400 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

nagement from those in the country. From
the difsipation and corruption of manners that
are incident to towns, it is at once evident,
that the poor will be more numerous. A
combination of other circumstances may also
increase their number 5 and it is owing to
that unavoidable increase, that any thing like
the English system of poor-laws takes place
in Scotland. There, houses of various dimen-
sions and descriptions are erected, and en-
dowed for their accommodation, where they
are maintained at the public expense, with
almost no care or concern of their own. These
erections are sometimes made and maintained
from funds individually appropriated to that
purpose, and others are made at the expense
of the community at large, being a tax laid
upon the inhabitants for their support. From
one or other of these several establishments,
the poor in towns are entitled to claim a
maintenance.

Tlie collections at the church, as in country
parishes, being by no means adequate to the
support of these expensive establishments,
when these are exhausted, a tax is imposed
upon the citizens, to supply the deficiency ;
and in consequence of this, the whole manage-

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 401

ment, and all the regulations respecting the
poor, devolves upon the Magistrates, or persons
authorised by them for that purpose. One of
these regulations now generally adopted, is,
that public begging or asking alms, in towns,
is strictly prohibited. The poor are either
received into the public establishments pro-
vided for them, or they receive a stipulated
supply in their own houses, according as their
situation may require. Many of these poor
in towns, and large villages, who have been
long inured to habits of profligacy and difsipa-
tion, not pofsefsing that delicacy of sentiment
above described, as peculiar to the poor in
country parishes j and being either difsatisiied
with the provision allotted to them, or uneasy,
under the restraint of not being permitted to
beg in town, sally forth, in swarms, into the
country, and raise contributions by their lies,
their whining, and clamorous importunity,
upon the compafsion and generosity of the
inhabitants. And what chiefly adds to this
scene of perpetual aggrefsion and disgust, is,
that it is not always upon the mostnecefsitous
and pitiable objects of distrefs, that these
charitable contributions are bestowed ; but
upon a parcel of idle vagrants and vagabonds,
who commonly resort with their plunder to

402 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

gin shops and dry quarters, where they in-
dulge in all the filthy orgies, and low buffoon-
ery and obscenity, so well described by Burns,
in his poem of the Taterdemaliaiis.

It is impofsible to conceive a more disgust-
ing nuisance, or a more pernicious evil in
society, than the permifsion of these vagrant
beggars, that every day pour upon the country,
like swarms of devouring locusts, from all the
adjacent towns and villages. They consume
the provision that ought to be applied to the
parochial poor, who, if it were not for them,
could be far more liberally supplied, and the
burden of supporting them would never be
felt. They spread and encourage vice and
idlenefs, and, by the frequency of their repeti-
tions, they chill the very feeling of charity
itself. These persons ought to be considered
as so many idlers, who prey upon the labours
of the industrious, and by which they become
doubly pernicious, both from their being non-
productives, and also from their withdrawing
their services from the labour of the field at a
time when labourers are in much request.

There is no part of police, or of political
regulation, that calls more loudly for imme-

CEORGICAL ESSAYS. 403

diate redrefs than this. It is an evil that is
every day increasing, and will continue to
increase, in proportion as the wealth, the
population, and the manufactures of the coun-
try increase in the cities and great towns.
The greatest service that can be done to the
state, and to the vagrant poor themselves, is,
to confine them strictly within the bounds of
the parishes to which they severally belong.
And it is a most happy circumstance, that this
can be done in the most speedy, effectual,
and easy manner pofsible. The remedy needs
only to be mentioned, in order to be ad-
ministered.

We have seen, from the foregoing state-
ment of the statute-law of Scotland, that all
Magistrates and Justices of the Peace are
empowered and enjoined to see that the poor
shall be rigidly confined to the parishes to
which they belong ; and when they find
them transgrefsing, they are charged to com-
mit them to hard labour in the house of
correction 3 and all who are found giving
them alms, are to be fined in the sum of 20 s. ^
for the use of the poor of their own parish.

Is^ 8d. English. Editor.

404 GEORGICAL ESSAYS^.

Let Justices then, at their Quarter Sefsions,
appoint in the first place, a considerable num-
ber of constables in every parish. Let it not
only be an important part of their instructions,
to apprehend vagrants, but let them regularly
call the constables before them at their quarter
or annual meetings, and inquire strictly into
the faithful discharge of this part of their duty,
and fine or punish them severely when they
find them negligent. Let the constables also
be obliged to give an account (upon oath, if
they be desired,) if they know of any one
who has given alms to any vagrant poor, and
let the fines (upon all transgrefsors) be exacted
in its fullest extent. If gentlemen would
only take the trouble to do this, (and they
ought positively and seriously to do it) vagrant
beggars would instantly disappear in this coun-
try} as if they never had had existence.

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 405

ESSAY XXIV.

On the Changes produced by the Sea upon the Earth.

Jl3oth the earth and the sea appear to be in
continual fluctuation. The earth, the com-
mon promptuary that supplies subsistence to
men, animals, and vegetables, is continually
furnishing its stores to their support. But
the matter which is thus derived from it, is
soon restored and laid down again to be pre-
pared for fresh mutations. The transmigration
of souls is no doubt false and whimsical ; but
nothing can be more certain than the transmi-
gration of bodies : the spoils of the meanest
reptile may go to the formation of a prince ;
and, on the contrary, as the poet has it, the
body of Cjesar may be employed in stopping
a beer barrel. From this, and other causes,
therefore, the earth is in continual change.
Its internal fires, the deviation of its rivers,
and the falling of its mountains, are daily al-
tering its surface ; and geography can scarcely
recollect the lakes and the vallies that history
once described.

Volume VI, 5 D d

406 georgical essays.

But these changes are nothing to the insta-
bility of the ocean. It would seem that inqui-
etude was as natural to it as its fluidity. It is
first seen with a constant and equable motion
going towards the west; the tides then in-
terrupt this progrefsion, and for a time drive
the waters in a contrary direction ; beside
these agitations, the currents act their part in
a smaller sphere, being generally greatest
where the other motions of the sea are leasts
namely, nearest the shore: the winds also
contribute their share in this universal fluctu-
ation ; so that scarce any part of the sea is
wholly seen to stagnate.

As this great element is thus changed, and
continually labouring internally, it may be rea-
dily supposed that it produces correspondent
changes upon its shores, ^nd those parts of
the earth subject to its influence. In fact, it
is every day making considerable alterations,
either by overflowing its shores in one place,
or deserting them in others; by covering ovev
whple tracts of country, that were cultivated
and peopled, at one time 5 or by leaving its
bed to be appropriated to the purposes of ve-
getation, and to supply a new theatre for hu-
man industry at another.

GHORGICAL ESSAYS. 407

In this struggle between the earth and the
sea for dominion, the greatest number of our
shores seem to defy the whole rage of the
waves, both by their height, and the rocky
materials of which they are composed. The
coasts of Italy, for instance, are bordered
with rocks of marble of ditferent kinds, the
■quarries of which may easily be distinguished
at a distance from sea, and appear like per-
pendicular columns, of the most beautiful
kinds of marble, ranged along the shore. In
general, the coasts of France, from Brest to
Bourdeaux, are composed of rocks; as are
also those of Spain and England, which de-
fend the land, and only are interrupted here
and there to give an egrefs to rivers, and to
grant the conveniences of bays and harbours
to our shipping. It may be in general re-
marked, that wherever the sea is most violent
and furious, there the boldest shores, and of
the most compact materials, are found to op-
pose it. There are many shores several
hundred feet perpendicular, against which
the sea, when swollen with tides or storms,
rises and beats with inconceivable fury. In
the Orkneys, where the shores are thus
formed, it sometimes, when agitated by a
stojm, rises two hundred feet perpendiculiir,

Dd2

40S GEORGICAL ESSAVS.

and (lashes up its spray, together with safid^
and other substances that compose its bottom,
upon land, like showers of rain.

From hence, therefore, \\q may conceive
liow the violence of the sea, and the boldnefs
of the shore, may be said to have made each
pther Where the sea meets no obstacles, it
spreads its waters with a gentle intumescence,
till all its power is destroyed, by its w^anting
depth to aid its motion. But when its pro-
grefs is checked in the midst, by the promi-
nence of rocks, or the abrupt elevation of the
land, it dashes with all the force of its depth
against the obstacle, and forms, by its repeated
violence, that abruptnefs of the shore which
confines its impetuosity. Where the sea is
extremely deep, or very much vexed by
tempests, it is no small obstacle that can con-
fine its rage; and for this reason we see the
"boldest shores projected against the deepest
waters; all lefs impediments havinglongbefore
been surm.ountcd and washed away. Perhaps
of all the shores in the w^orid, there is not one
so high as that tc the west of St. Kilda, which,
upon a late admeasurement, was found to be
six hundred fathom perpendicular above the
IJifface of the sea. Here also, the sea is deep,

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 4-09

turbulent, and stormy; so that it requires
great force in the shore to oppose its violence.
In many parts of the world, and particularly
upon the coasts of the East Indies, the shores^
though not high above v/ater, are generally
very deep, and consequently the waves roll
against land with great weight and irregularity.
This rising of the waves against the shore, is
called by mariners, the surf of the sea; and in
shipwrecks is generally fatal to such as attempt
to swim on shore. In this case, no dexterity
in the swimmer, no iloat he can use, neither
swimming girdle nor cork jacket will save
him ; the weight of the superincumbent wave
breaks upon him at once, and crushes him with
certain ruin. Some few of the natives, how-
ever, have the art of swimming and of navi-
gatina: their little boats near those shores,
where an European is sure of instant de-
struction.

In places where the force of the sea is lefs
violent, or its tides lefs rapid, the shores are
generally seen to descend with a njore gradual
declivity. Over these, the waters of the tide
steal by almost imperceptible degrees, cover-
ing them for a large extent, and leaving them
, bare on its recefs. Upon these shores, as was

Dd3

410 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

said, the sea seldom beats with any great vio-
Jence, as a large wave has not depth sufficient
to float it onwards, so that here only are to be
seen gentle surges making calmly towards
Jand, and lefsening as they approach. As the
sea, in the former description, is generally seen
to present prospects of tumult and uproar,
here it more usually exhibits a scene of repose
and tranquil beauty. Its waters, which when
surveyed from the precipice, afforded a muddy,
greenish hue, arising from their depth and po-
sition to the eye, when regarded from a
shelving shore, wear the colour of the sky, and
seem rising to meet it. The deafening noise
of the deep sea, is here converted into gentle
murmurs ; instead of the water's dashing
against the face of the rock, it advances and
recedes, still going forward, but with just
force enough to push its weeds and shells, by
insensible approaches to the shore.

There are still other shores, besides those
already described, which either have been
raised by art to oppose the sea's approaches,
or from the sea's gaining ground, are threat-
ened with imminent destruction. The sea's
being thus seen to give and take away lands
at pleasure, is, without question, one of the

(iEOTlGICAL ESSAYS. 411

most extraordinary considerations in all natural
history. In some places it is seen to obtain
the superiority by slow and certain approaches;
or to burst in at once, and overwhelm all
things in undistinguished destruction ; in
other places it departs from its shores ; and
where its waters have been known to rage,
it leaves fields covered with the most bealt'
tifol verdure.

The formation of new lands by the sea's
continually bringing its sediment to one place,
and by the accumulation of its sands in another,
is easily conceived. We have had many in-
stances of this in England. The island of
Oxney, which is adjacent to Romney-marsh..
was produced in this manner. This had for
a long time been a low level, continually in
danger cf being overflown by the river Rother ;
but the sea, by its depositions, has gradually
raised the bottom of the river, while it has
hollowed the mouth ; so that the one is suf-
ficiently secured from inundations, and the
other is deep enough to admit ships of con-
siderable burden. The like also may be seen
at that bank called the Dogger-sands, where
two tides meet, and which thu£ receive new
increase every day, so that in time the place
5? D d 4

412 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

seems to promise fair for being habitable earth.
On many parts of the coasts of France, Eng-
land, Holland, Germany, and Prufsia, the sea
has been sensibly known to retire*. Hubert
Thomas afserts, in his Description of the
Country of Liege, that the sea formerly en-
compafsed the city of Tongres, which, how-
ever, is at present thirty-five leagues distant
from it : this afsertion he supports by many
strong reasons , and among others, by the
iron rings fixed in the walls of the town, for
fastening the ships that came into the port.
In Italy there is a considerable piece of ground
gained at the mouth of the river Arno ; and
Ravenna, that once stood by the sea-side, is
now considerably removed from the same. But
we need scarce mention these, when we find
that the whole republic of Holland seems to be
a conquest upon the sea, and, in a manner,
rescued from its bosom. The surface of the
earth, in this country, is below the level of
the bed of the sea ; and I remember, upon
approachirg the coast, to have looked down
upon it from the sea, as into a valley; how-
ever it is every day rising higher by the deposi-

* Buffon, vol. vi. p. 424-.

CEORGICAL ESSAYS. 4lS

tions made upon it both by the sea, the Rhine,
and the Meuse ; and those parts which for-
merly admitted large men of war, are now
known to be too shallow to receive ships of
very moderate burden*. The province of
Jucatan, a peninsula in the Gulph of Mexico,
was formerly a part of ihe sea: this tract, which
stretches out into the ocean 100 leagues,
and which is above thirty broad, is every
where, at a moderate depth below the sur-
face, composed of shells, which evince that
its land once formed the bed of the sea.
In France, the town of Aigues Mortes was
9. port in the time of St. Louis, which is now
removed more than four irMes from the sea,
Psalmodi, in the same kingdom, was an island
in the year 8 1 5, but is now more than six
miles from the shore All along the coasts
of Norfolk, I am very well afsured, that in the
memory of man, the sea has gained fifty yards
in some places, and lost as much in others

Thus numerous, therefore, are the instances
of new lands having been produced from the
ocean, which, as we see, is brought about two
different ways : first, by the waters raising

*BufFon, vol. vi. 424.

414 GEORGICAL ESSAYS-

banks of sand and mud where their sediment
is deposited -, and, secondly, by their relin-
quishing the shore entirely, and leaving it on-
occupied to the industry of man.

But as the sea has been thus known to re-
cede from some lands, so has it, by fatal ex-
perience, been found to encroach upon others;
and, probably, these depredations on one part
of the shore, may account for their dereliction
from another ; for the current which rested
upon some certain bank, having got an egrefs
in some other place, it no longer prefses upon
its former bed, but pours all its stream into
the new entrance j so that every inundation
of the sea may be attended with some cor-
respondent dereliction of another shore.

However this be, we have numerous his-
tories of the sea's inundations, and its burying
whole provinces in its bosom. Many countries
that have been thus destroyed, still bear melan-
choly witnefs to the truth of history ; and
show the tops of their houses, and the spires
of their steeples, still standing at the bottom
of the water. One of the most considerable
inundations we have in history, is that which
happened in the reign of Henry I. which

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 415

overflowed the estates of the Earl Godwin,
and forms now that bank called the Goodwin
Sands. In the year 1546, a similar eruption
of the sea destroyed a hundred thousand per-
sons in the territory of Dort ; and yet a greater
number round Dullart. In Friezland, and
Zealand, there were more than three hundred
villages overwhelmed ; and their ruins con-
tinue still visible at the bottom of the water
in a clear day. The Baltic sea has, by slow
degrees, covered a large part of Pomerania ;
and, among others, destroyed and overwhelmed
the famous port of Vineta. In the same man-
ner, the Norwegian sea has formed several
little islands from the main-land, and still
daily advances upon the continent. The
German sea has advanced upon the shores of
Holland, near Catt 3 so that the ruins of an
ancient citadel of the Romans, which was for-
merly built upon this coast, are now actually
under water. To these accidents several more
might be added ; our own historians, and
those of other countries, abound with them ^
almost every flat shore of any extent, being
able to show something that it has lost, or
something that it has gained from the sea.

There are some shores on which the sea has

416 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

made temporary depredations ; where it haa
overflowed, and after remaining perhaps some
ages, it has again retired of its own accord,
or been driven back by the industr}' of man.
There are many lands in Norway, Scotland,
and the Maldivia Islands, that are at one time
covered with water, and at another free. The
country raund the Isle of Ely, in the time of
Bcde, about a thousand years ago, was one of
tlie most delightful spots in the whole king-
dom ; it was not only richly cultivated, and pro-
duced all the necefsaries of life, but grapes also,
that afforded the most excellent wine. The ac-
counts of that time are copious in the descrip-
tion of its verdure and fertility ; its rich pas*
tures covered with flowers and herbage ; its
beautiful shades, and wholesome air. But
the sea, breaking in upon the land, over-
w^helmed the whole country, took pofsefsion
of the soil, and totally destroyed one of the
most beautiful vallies in the world. Its air, from
being dry and healthful, from that time be-
came most unwholesome, and clogged with
vapours ; and the small part of the country
that, by being higher than the rest, escaped
the deluge, was soon rendered uninhabitable,
from its noxious vapours. Thus this country
continued under water for some centuries j

GEORGICAL ESSAVs. 4lt

till, at last the sea, by the same caprice which
had prompted its invasions, began to abandon
the earth in like manner. It has continued
ior some ages to relinquish its former con-
questsj and although the inhabitants can
neither boast the longevity, nor the luxuries
of their former pre-occupants, yet they find
ample means of subsistence : and if they hap-
pen to survive the first years of their residence
there, they are often known to arrive at a
good old age.

But although history be silent as to many
other inundations of the like kind, where the
sea has overflowed the country, and afterwards
retired, yet we have numberlefs testimonies of
another nature, that prove it beyond the pofsi-
bility of doubt: I mean those numerous trees
that are found buried at considerable depths
in places where either rivers, or the sea, has
accidentally overflown. At the mouth of the
river Nefs, near Bruges, in Flanders, at the
depth of fifty feet, are found great quantities
of trees lying as close to each other as they do
in a wood : the trunks, the branches, and the
leaves, are in such perfect preservation, that
the particular kind of each tree may instantly
be known. About five hundred years ago,

418 &EORGICAL ESSAYS.

this very ground was known to have been
covered with the sea ; nor is there any history
or tradition of its having been dry ground,
which we can have no doubt must have been
the case. Thus we see a country flourishing
in verdure, producing large forests, and trees
of various kinds, overwhelmed by the sea.
We see this element depositing its sediment
to an height of fifty feet; and its waters must,
therefore, have risen much higher. We see
the same, after it has thus overwhelmed, and
sunk the land so deep beneath its slime,
capriciously retiring from the same coasts, and
leaving that habitable once more, which it had
formerly destroyed. All this is wonderful i
and perhaps, instead of attempting to inquire
after the cause, which has hitherto been in-
scrutable, it will best become us to rest
satisfied with admiration.

At the city of Modena in Italy, and about
four miles round it, wherever it is dug, when
the workmen arrive at the depth of sixty-
three feet, they come to a bed of chalk, which
they bore with an augre five feet deep : they
then withdraw from the pit, before the augre
is removed, and upon its extraction, the water
bursts up through the aperture with great

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 419

violence, and quickly fills this new-made well,
which continues full, and is aflPected neither
by rains nor droughts. But that which is
most remarkable in this operation, is the
layers of earth as we descend. At the depth
of fourteen feet, are found the ruins of an
ancient city, paved streets, houses, floors, and
different pieces of Mosaic. Under this is
found a solid earth, that would induce one to
think had never been removed ; however,
under it is found a soft oozy earth, made up
of vegetables ; and at twenty-six feet depth,
large trees entire, such as walnut-trees, with
the walnuts still sticking on the stem, and
their leaves and branches in exact preservation.
At twenty-eight feet deep, a soft chalk is
found, mixed with a vast quantity of shells;
and this bed is eleven feet thick. Under
this, vegetables are found again, with leaves,
and branches of trees as before ; and thus
alternately chalk and vegetable earth to the
depth of sixty-three feet. These are the
layers wherever the workmen attempt to bore;
while in many of them they also find pieces
of charcoal, bones, and bits of iron. From
this description, therefore, it appears, that this
country has been alternately overflowed and
deserted by the sea, one age after another :

420 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

nor were these overflowings and retirings of
of trifling depth, or of short continuance.
"When the sea burst in, it must have been a
Ions time in overvvhelminor the branches of
the fallen forest with its sediment -, and still
longer in forming a regular bed of shells
eleven feet over them. It must have, there-
fore, taken an age, at least, to make any one
of these layers ; and we may conclude, that it
must have been many ages employed in the
production of them all. The land also, upon
being deserted, must have had time to grow
compact, to gather fresh fertility, and to be
drained of its waters before it could be dis-
posed to vegetation, or before its trees could
have shot forth again to maturity.

"We have instances nearer home of the same
kind, given us in the Philosophical Transac-
tions; one of them by Mr. Derham. An in-
undation of the sea, at Degenham, in Efsex;
laying bare a part of the adjacent pasture for
above two hundred feet wide, and, in some
places, twenty deep, it discovered a number
of trees that had lain there for many ages be-
fore; these trees, by lying long under ground,
were become black and hard, and their fibres
so tough, that one might as easily break a

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 421

wire, as any of them : tbey lay so thick in the
place where they were found, that in many
parts he could step from one to another : he
conceived also, that not only all the adjacent
marshes, for several hundred acres, were co-
vered underneath with such timber, but also
the marshes along the mouth of the Thames,
for several miles. The meeting with these
trees at such depths, he ascribes to the sedi-
ment of the river and the tides, which con-
stantly washing over them, have alw^iys left
some part of their substance behind, so as,
by repeated alluvions, to work a bed of vege-
table earth over them, to the height at which
he found it.

The levels of Hatfield-Chace, in Yorkshire,
a tract of above eighteen thousand acres,
which was yearly overflown, was reduced to
arable and pasture-land, by one Sir Cornelius
Vermusden, a Dutchman. At the bottom of
this wide extent, are found millions of the
roots and bodies of trees, of such as this island
either formerly did, or does at present pro-
duce. The roots of all stand in their proper
postures; and by them, as thick as ever they
could grow, the respective trunks of each,
some above thirty yards long. The oaks, some
Volume VI, £ e

422 GEORGICAL ESSAtS.

of which have been sold for fifteen pounds a
piece, are as black as ebony, very lasting, and
close grained. The ash-trees are as soft as
earth, and are commonly cut in pieces by the
workmen's spades, and as soon as flung up into
the open air, turn to dust. But all the rest,
even the willows themselves, which are softer
than the ash, preserve their substance and
texture to this very day. Some of the firs ap-
pear to have vegetated, even after they were
fallen, and to have, from their branches, struck
up large trees, as great as the parent trunk.
It is observable, that many of these trees have
been burnt, some quite through, some on one
side, some have been found phopped and
squared, others riven with great wooden
wedges, all sufficiently manifesting, that the
country which was deluged, had formerly been
inhabited. Near a great root of one tree, were
found eight coins of the Roman emperors ;
and, in some places, the marks of the ridge
artd furrow, were plainly perceivable, which
testified that the ground had formerly been
patient of cultivation.

The learned naturalist who has given this
description *, has pretty plainly evinced, that

• Phil. Trans, vol. iv. partii. p. 214.

CEORGICAL ESSAYS. 423

this forest, in particular^ must havd been thus
kvelled by the Romans j and that the falling
of the trees, must have contributed to the ac-
cumulation of the waters. " The Romans,'*
says he, " when the Britons fled, always pur-
sued them into the fortrefses of low woods
and miry forests : in these, the wild natives
found shelter ; and, when opportunity offered,
ifsued out, and fell upon their invaders without
mercy. In this manner the Romans were at
length so harafsed, that orders were ifsued
out tor cutting down all the woods and forests
in Britain. In order to effect this, and destroy
the enemy the easier, they set fire to the
woods, composed of pines and other inflam-
mable timber, which spreading, the confla-
gration destroyed not only the forest, but in-
finite numbers of the wretched inhabitants
who had taken shelter therein. When the
pine-trees had thus done what mischief they
could, the Romans then brought their army
nearer^ and with whole legions of the captive
BritonSj cut down most of the trees that were
yet left standing; leaving only here and there **
some great trees untouched, as monuments
of their fury. These, unneedful of their la-
bour, being destitute of the support of the
underwood, and of tlieir neighbouring trees,

Ee 2

424 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

were easily overthrown by the winds, and,
without interruption, remained on the places
where they happened to fall. The forest,
thus fallen, must necefsarily have stopped up
the currents, both from land and sea; and
turned into great lakes, what were before but
temporary streams. The working of the
waters here, the consumption and decay of
rotten boughs and branches, and the vast in-
crease of water-mofs, which flourishes upon
marshy grounds, soon formed a covering over
the trunks of the fallen trees, and raised the
earth several feet above its former level. The
earth thus every day swelling, by a conti-
nual increase from the sediment of the waters,
and by the lightnefs of the vegetable sub-
stances of which it was composed, soon over-
topt the waters by which this intumescence
was at first effected; so that it entirely got
rid of its inundations, or only demanded a
slight afsistance from man for that purpose."
And this may be the origin of all bogs what-
soever, which are formed by the putrefaction
of vegetable substances, mixed with the mud
and slime deposited by waters, and at length
acquiring a sufficient consistency.

From this we see what powerful effects the

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 4'2j

sea IS capable of producing upon its shores,
either by overflowing some, or deserting
others; by altering the direction of these, and
rendering those craggy and precipitate, which
before were shelving. But the influence it has
upon these, is nothing to that which it has
upon that great body of earth which forms its
bottom. It is at the bottom of the sea that the
greatest wonders are performed, and the most
rapid changes are produced ; it is there that
the motion of the tides and the currents have
their whole force, and agitate the substances
of which their bed is composed. But all these
are almost wholly hid from human curiosity :
the miracles of the deep are performed in
secret; and we have but little information
from its abyfses, except what we receive by
inspection at very shallow depths, or by the
plummet, or from divers, who are known to
descend from twenty to thirty fathoms*.

The eye can reach but a very short way into
the depths of the sea ; and that only when its
surface is glafsy and serene. In many seas it
•perceives nothing but a bright sandy plain at

* Phil. Trans, vol. iv. part ii. p. 192.
^ Ee 3

426 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

bottom, extending for several hundred miles,
without an intervening object. But in others,
particularly in the Red Sea, it is very dif-^
ferent: the whole bottom of this extensive
bed of waters is, literally speaking, a forest of
submarine plants, and corals formed by in-
sects for theif habitation, sometimes branching
out to a great extent. Here are seen the
madrepores, the sponges, mofses, sea mush-
rooms, and other marine productions, covering
every part of the bottom : so that some have
even supposed the sea to have taken its name
from the colour of its plants below. How-
ever, these plants are by no means peculiar to
this sea, as they are found in great quantities
in the Persian gulph, along the coasts of Africa,
and those of Provence and Catalonia.

The bottom of many parts of the sea near
America, presents a very different, though a
very beautiful appearance. This is covered
with vegetables, which make it look as green
as a meadow, and beneath are seen thou-
sands of turtles, and other sea-animals, feed-
ing thereon.

In order to extend our knowledge of the
sea to greater depths, recourse has been bad

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 427

to the plummet J which is generally made of
a lump of lead of about forty pounds weight,
fastened to a cord. This, however, only an-
swers in moderate depths ; for when a deep
sea is to be sounded, the matter of which the
cord is composed, being lighter than the
water, floats upon it, and when let down to a
considerable depth, its length so increases its
surface, that it is often sufficient to prevent
the lead from sinking ; so that this may be the
reason that some parts of the sea are said to
have no bottom.

In general, we learn from the plummet,
that the bottom of the sea is tolerably even,
where it has been examined ; and that the
farther from the shore, the sea is in general the
deeper. Notwithstanding, now and then, in
the midst of a great and unfathomable ocean,
w^e often find an island raising its head, and
singly braving its fury. Such islands may be
considered as the mountains of the deep ; and,
could we for a moment imagine the waters of
the ocean removed or dried away, we should
probably find the inequalities of its bed re-
sembling those that are found at land. Here
extensive plains; there valleys; and, in
many places, mountains of amazing height.
S Ee 4

423 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

M. Buache has actually given us a map of
that part of its bottom, which lies between
Africa and America, taken from the several
soundings of mariners: in it we find the same
uneven surface that we do upon land, the same
eminences, and the same deprefsions. In such
an imaginary prospect, however, there would
be this difference, that as the tops of land-
mountains appear the most barren and rocky,
the tops of sea-mour.tains v.^ould be found
the most verdant and fruitful.

The plummet, which thus gives us some
idea of the inequalities of the bottom, leaves
us totally in the dark as to every other par-
ticular; recourse, therefore, has been had to
divers: these, either being bred up in this dan-
gerous way of life, and accustomed to remain
some time under water without breathing,
or afsisted by means of a diving-bell, have
been able to return some confused and uncer-
tain accounts of the places below. In the
great diving-bell improved by Dr. Halley,
which was large enough to contain five men,
and was supplied v,'ith fresh air by buckets,
that alternately rose and fell, they descended
fifty fathoms. In this huge machine, which
was let down from the mast of the ship, the

GEOKGICAL ESSAYS. 429

doctor himself went down to the bottom,
where, when the sea was clear, and especially
when the sun shone, he could see perfectly-
well to write or read, and much more to take
up any thing that was underneath : at other
times, when the water was troubled and thick,
it was as dark as night below, so that he was
obliged to keep a candle lighted at the bottom.
But there is one thing very remarkable, which
is, that the water which from above was
usually seen of a green colour, w^hen looked
at from below, appeared to him of a very-
different one, casting a rednefs upon one of
his hands, like that of damask roses * : — A
proof of the sea's taking its colour not from
any thing floating in it, but from the different
reflections c^ the rays of light. Upon thfe
whole, the accounts we have received from the
bottom, by this contrivance, are but few.
We learn from it, and from divers in general,
that while the surface of the sea may be de*
formed by tempests, it is usually calm and
temperate below -j-; that some divers who
have gone down when the weather was calm,
and came up when it was tempestuous, were

* Newton's Optic, p. 53.
•j- Boyle, vol. iii. p. 21.2.

4S0 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

surprised at their not perceiving the change at
the bottom. This, however, must not be sup-
posed to obtain with regard to the tides and
the currents, as they are seen constantly
shifting their bottom ; taking their bed with
great violence from one place, and depositing
it upon another. We are informed, also, by
divers, that the sea grows colder in proportion
as they descend to the bottom: that as far as
the sun's rays pierce, it is influenced by their
warmth ; but lower, the cold becomes almost
intolerable. A person of quality, who had
been himself a diver, as Mr, Boyle inform us,
declared, that though he seldom descended
above three or four fathoms, yet he found it so
much colder than nearer the top, that he could
not well endure it; and that being let down
in a great diving-bell, although the water
could not immediately touch him, he found
the air extremely cold upon his first arrival
at the bottom.

From divers also we learn, that the sea in
many places is filled with rocks at bottom ;
and, that among their cliffs, and upon their
sides, varicus substances sprout forward,
which are either really vegetables, or the
nest8 of insects, increased to some magnitude.

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 431

Some of these afsume the shape of beautiful
flowers ; and, though soft, when taken up,
soon harden, and are kept in the cabinets of
the curious.

But, of all those divers who have brought
us information from the bottom of the deep,
the famous Nicola Pesce, whose performances
are told us by Kircher, is the most celebrated.
I will not so much as pretend to vouch for
the veracity of Kircher's account, which he
afsures us he had from the archives of the
kings of Sicily. " In the times of Frederic,
king of Sicily, there lived a celebrated diver,
whose name was Nicolas, and who, from his
amazing skill in swimming, and his perse-
verance under water, was sirnamed the Fish.
This man had, from his infancy, been used to
the sea ; and earned his scanty subsistence
by diving for corals and oysters ; which he
sold to the villages on shore. His long ac-
quaintance with the sea, at last, brought it to
be almost his natural element. He frequently
was known to spend five days in the midst of
the waves, without any other provisions than
the fish which he caught there, and ate raw.
He often swam over from Sicily to Calabria,
g tempestuous and dangerous pafsage, carry-

432 GEORGICAL ESSAY«r

ing letters from the king. He was frequently
known to swim among the gulphs of the
Lipari islands^ no way apprehensive of danger.

*' Some mariners out at sea, one day ob-
served something at some distance from them,
which they regarded as a sea-monster ; but
upon its approach, it was known to be Nicolas,
whom they took into their ship. When they
asked him whither he was going in so stormy
and rough a sea, and at such a distance froni
land, he showed them a packet of letters,
■^vhich he was carrying to one of the towns of
Italy, exactly done up in a leather bag, in
.such a manner as that they could not be
wetted by the sea. He kept them thus com-
pany for some time on their voyage, conversing
and asking questions; and after eating a hearty
meal with them, he took his leave, and jump-
ing into the sea, pursued his voyage alone.

" In order to aid these powers of enduring
in the deep, Nature seemed to have afsisted
him in a very extraordinary manner; for
the spaces between his fingers and toes were
webbed, as in a goose ; and his chest became
so very capacious, that he could take in at
one inspiration, as much breath as would
serve him for a whole day.

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 4331

" The account of so extraordinary a per-
son did not fail to reach the king himself;
"who, actuated by the general curiosity, or-
dered that Nicholas should be brought before
him. It was no easy matter to find Nicholas,
who generally spent his time in the solitudes
of the deep ; but, at last, however, after much
searching, he was found, and brought before
his Majesty. The curiosity of this monarch
had been long excited by the accounts he
had heard of the bottom of the gulph of Cha-
rybdis ; he therefore conceived that it would
be a proper opportunity to have more certain
information ; and commanded our poor diver
to examine the bottom of this dreadful whirl-
pool -y and as an incitement to his obedience,
he ordered a golden cup to be flung into it.
Nicolas was not insensible of the danger to
which he was exposed ; dangers best known
only to himself; and he therefore presumed
to remonstrate : but the hopes of the reward,
the desire of pleasing the king, and the plea-
sure of showing his skill, at last prevaDed. He
instantly jumped into the gulph, and was
swallowed as instantly up in its bosom. He
continued for three quarters of an hour below;
during which time the king and his attendants
remained upon shore anxious for bis fate 3 but

434. GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

i

he at last appeared, buffeting upon the sur- ,
facCj holding the eup in triumph in one hand,
and making his way good among the waves

with the other. It may be supposed he was J

received with applause upon his arrival on i
shore ; the cup was made the reward of his
adventure ; the king ordered him to be taken
proper care of; and, as he was somewhat

fatigued and debilitated by his labour, after a '■

hearty meal, he was put to bed, and permitted '

to refresh himself by sleeping. ;

I

" When his spirits were thus restored, he was :
again brought to satisfy the king's curiosity,

with a narrative of the wonders he had seen ; :

and his account was to the following effect:-— I
He would never, he said, have obeyed the

king's commands, had he been apprized of ,

half the dangers that were before him. There !

were four things, he said, that rendered the |

gulph dreadful, not only to men, but even to j

the fishes themselves : first, the force of the I

water bursting up from the bottom, which !

required great strength to resist ; secondly, the !

abruptnefs of the rocks, that on every side •

threatened destruction ; thirdly, the force of i
the whirlpool, dashing against those rocks;

and fourthly, the number and magnitude of \

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 435

the polypus fish, some ot which appeared
as large as a man, and which, every where
sticking against the rocks, projected their
iibrous arms to entangle him. Being asked
how he was able so readily to find the cup
that had been thrown in, he replied, that it
happened to be flung by the waves into the
cavity of a rock, against which he himself was
urged in his descent. This account, how-
ever, did not satisfy the king's curiosity; be-
ing requested to venture once more into the
gulph for further discoveries, he at first re-
fused s but the king, desirous of having the
most exact information pofsible of all things
to be found in the gulph, repeated his solid-
tationsi and, to give them still greater weight,
produced a larger cup than the former, tnd
added also a purse of gold. Upon these con-
siderations, the unfortunate Pefsacola once
again plunged into the whirlpool, and was
never heard of more."

4^6 GXORGICAL ESSAYS.

ESSAY XXV.

On Local Agriadture.

X ARMERs who have been confined to one
district, ought to be cautious how they criti-
cise, with contemptuous asperity, the general
conduct of those of another district, pofsefsing
a soil of a different nature, or in a different
state from their own. I hardly know a more
helplefs creature, or one who would desen'e
more to be pitied, than a mere practical far-
mer, who should move from a rich highly im-
proved soil, in a good climate, to pofsefs a
farm in an unimproved country, where the
soil and climate were naturally bad, and ma-
nures without his reach. — If this observation
be well founded, ought it not to make us en-
tertain a doubt, if the practice lately intro-
duced into some of the unimproved parts of
Scotland, of gentlemen sending their sons to
the most improved counties in England, to
learn the practice of agriculture, will be at-
tended with all the beneficial consequences
fnat are at first expected to arise from it r — In

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 437

an unimproved country, a farmer has number-
lefs difficulties to encounter, that are not
known or dreamed of in one where agricul-
ture has been long practised with succefs.—
And is it in the lap of ease, and in the midst
of abundance, that one learns best to suffer
hardships with fortitude, and overcome diffi-
culties by persf^ve ranee? Is it within the walls
of a garrison, tiat a general may best learn
the art of war ? or is it not rather in the field,
where dangers surround him on every hand,
while opposed by a vigilant and active com-
mander, that he learns the much prized art
of destruction ? — It is nearly the same with a
farmer in an unimproved country. — He is
surrounded with so many difficulties — meets
with such powerful interruptions at every
step — and must proceed so slowly and cau-
tiously in all his operations, as would totally
overcome the spirit of one who had been ac-
customed to live in a happier situation. — If
one hopes to practise farming in these circum-
stances with the smallest prospect of succefs,
he must not only be pofsefsed of a sagacious
penetration, in distinguishing, with precision,
the nature of the different soils he may meet
with, and the crops that each of these will
best carry, but a solidity of judgment, and ^n
Volume VI, F f

43S GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

unbiafsed impartiality of mind, that may
enable him to vary his practice so as to suit
the nature of that soil, and make it produce,
perhaps, the only crop that it is fitted to rear:
— A species of knowledge that must be self-
taught — as neither the experience of his an-
cestors— his neighbours — nor the best farmers,
in another situation,, can avail him any thing. —
He must likewise be pofsefsed of a coolnefs
of temper, that is not apt to be startled at
meeting with unforeseen obstructions, and an
obstinate industry that persists till these are
overcome, however great and numerous they
may be — a versatility of genius, fitted to
adapt itself at once to the circumstances that
may occur, so as to seize every advantage
that fortune may throw in his way — a patient
forbearance, and vigilant foresight, that may
perceive diPiiculties at a distance, so as to
guard against them before they come to prefs
w-ith irresistible power — and a moderation in
bis desires, that can be contented with little on
all occasions.

"NVith all these qualities, a man, in many
situations, may be reckoned fortunate, if,,
after a long life spent in the most vigorous
exertions, and persevering industry, he can

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 439

bring his fields into such order, as barely to
admit of besinnins: to introduce some of those
modes of culture that were fully established
in the improved district, which was proposed
as a model to him in his early years. Is it
proper to send a young man, who has such a
rugged scene to encounter, to the smooth and
fertile fields of plenty ? — Is it fit to inspire his
youthful mind with a taste of those sweets
which he is doomed never to enjoy? — Is it
wise to send one to learn to overcome diffi-
culties, to a place where none of these diffi-
culties ever occur? — Is not such a plan apt to
inspire the youthful mind with a vain and
presumptuous confidence of succefs, that is ia
danger of making it engage in chimerical
plans of improvement which never can be
realised — which end in disappointment and
chagrin — perhaps in utter ruin and misery !

I have been induced to delineate this faith-
ful picture, from having seen it too fatally
realized in more instances than one ; — and
from having observed that some writers of
late have exerted themselves to the utmost, to
endeavour to promote such chimerical pro-
jects.— It is painful to see individuals hurt, by
improper ideas getting pofsefsion of their mind.

Ff2

440 GEORGICAL ESSAYS

Those who have been accustomed to live
in the regions of plenty — of industry and
knowledge— who have been used to see
abundant crops waving in luxuriance on their
fields — who look with contempt on the un-
skilfulnefs, and laugh at what they deem the
puny attempts at improvement of those who
live in barren countries, will, no doubt, ac-
cuse me of prejudice, should I give it as my.
opinion, that, with half the genius — half the
application and industry — half the know-
ledge— half the money, and one-tenth of the
time, a farmer who lives in a rich conntry,
already forward in culture, may bring all his
fields into such order as to carry onions, or any
other garden crop, before one who, in certain
circum-stances, undertakes to improve barren
and uncultivated ground, will be able to bring
it to bear tolerable crops of any kind of corn
or grafs. Yet, if I can trust to my own most
attentive observation and experience, this ig
undoubtedly the case.

Let it not, however, be imagined, I mean
to insinuate that a farmer can gain no advan-
tage by travelling into a country where there
are more improvements than in that where
he resides. — Nothing can be farther from my

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 441

intention. — I would only wish to inculcate
this useful maxim, which might with justice
be applied to all kinds of travelling. — That
it is not the young and inexperienced who can
be properly instructed by this means — but
those who have already made some progrefs
in those arts or sciences they wish to be in-
structed in — whose experience has tauo-ht
them caution, and whose habit of attention
has enabled them to select with judgment,
and adopt with a wise discrimination, such
particulars only as they know can be applied
to their own particular purposes — and reject
the others as uselefs or pernicious.

Ff 3

442 GEORGICAL ESSAYS^

ESSAY XXVI.

On Raising the Oak.

An opinion is generally prevalent, that the
Oak is particularly slow in its growth, and
requires a great number of years before it
affords any advantage. This idea too often
deters from planting, on account of the very
great length of time it is supposed the land
must be occupied before any return of va-
luable produce can be obtained from it, after
a considerable expense may have been inr
curred in forming plantations.

This opinion I consider as entirely founded
in error, and to have taken its rise in a great
measure from the want of proper management
that has hitherto commonly prevailed in the
raising of Oaks : and in this Efsay I shall en-
deavour strongly to state, that the Oak may
be rendered very rapid in its growth, and that
consequently land may be employed to great
advantage in ils cultivation, as a very con-
siderable and profitable produce may, in a

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 443

much shorter time than is generally supposed,
be derived from proper parts of an estate thus
employed.

Oak-Timber in this country, for the most
part, appears in trees of a considerable extent
of head, but seldom more than twenty or
thirty feet in stem j and this, in many in-
stances, the growth of a century. Now, by
the course of management here proposed, it
is conceived that trees, of at least double this
magnitude, may be obtained in about half
that time.

It is not my intention to attempt a proof of
this proposition by theoretical deductions, but
to appeal for its confirmation to the indu-
bitable test of fact, which, from the event of
repeated trials, imprefses a conviction, that
experience will be found to support and esta-
blish it in the most unequivocal manner.

It would be easy to enlarge much on the
various qualities of soil, the nature and procefs
of vegetation, and the peculiar properties of
the Oak ; but as these topics may be found
amply and judiciously discufsed in many other
authors, who have exprefsly treated on these

F f 4

444 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

subjects, I shall decline all such speculations ;
and, with the hope of being more efsentially
useful, shall confine myself to a statement as
simple and practical as pofsible.

The Oak, in the progrefs of its growth,
spreads numerous roots near the surface of
the ground, and in a horizontal direction :
these afsist in supporting and preserving the
tree in its position, but seem to contribute
very little to its increase and magnitude.
The Oak appears to derive its chief nutriment
and strength from a root that always descends i
at right angles to the horizon, and is called
the tap-root. The first thing, therefore, to be J
observed is, that upon a judicious attention [
to this peculiarity, the planter's succefs prin- ■
cipally depends ; and the neglect of this care
is the constant source of error and disappoint- \
ment. In all climates, and upon all soils, to j
preserve this tap-root from injury, and as ;
much as pofsible to afsist its growth, is a
general, and indeed the most efsential prin- i
ciple in the cultivation of Oak. With a due j
regard to this circumstance, the management \
of a plantation may be resolved into the three
following practical directions : \

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 445

Previously to planting the acorns, loosen
the earth intended for their reception by
deep trenching.

Never transplant, or in any u'ay disturb,
the saplings intended for timber.

Keep the plant carefully pruned, till arriyed
at a proper height.

IMore fully to elucidate the subject, and to
prevent the pofsibility of misapprehension, it
may be proper to give a more detailed state-
ment.

In determining on a spot to form a planta-
tion of Oaks for timber, it must always be
recollected that the plants are to remain with-
out removal in their first situation ; the
clearing and fencing may then be attended ro
as usual ^ and in the course of the winter,
from September to March, the particular spots
intended for the reception of acorns, may be
prepared for that purpose, by digging a trench
about three feet in width, and from three to
six feet in depth, according to the closenefs
and tenacity of the soil. If grafs-ground, the
(ir^t spit should -be placed at the bottom of

446 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

the trench j and if more than one trench be
necefsary, they should be prepared in the
same manner, preserving a distance of ten
yards between each, if it be intended to em-
ploy the intermediate space in underwood, or
for any other purpose.

Having made a careful selection of acorns
that are periectly sound, and in good pre-
servation, they are to be planted about the
middle of March. Draw a drill in the centre
of the trench j two inches in depth, if the
soil be hea\^ and loamy ; but three inches in
a light and sandy earth. In this place the
acorns two inches asunder, and cover them
carefully with mould. "When the plants ap-
pear, they must be weeded by hand in the
rows, and the earth of the trench round them
cleaned with a hoe, once a month during the
«uramer. In October inspect the rows, and
thin them by pulling up every other plant :
attention will of course be paid to remove the
weak and crooked plants, and leave those
that are tallest and straitest. On the second
year, the operation of thinning must be re-
peated, at the same time, and in the same
manner ; and, should any of the remaining
plants have made side-shoots stronger than

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 447

the general character, they must be smoothly
cut off with a sharp knife, close to the leading
stem. On the third year, the thinning is
again to be repeated, and the general pruning
commenced, by cutting off close to the lead-
ing stem all the side-shoots of the first year ;
thus leaving the branches of two years to form
the head of the following year. The removal
of every alternate plant must be continued
yearly, till the trees are about thirty feet
apart, at which distance they may remain for
timber. The pruning is to be continued, by
removing every year, very smooth and close
to the main stem, one year's growth of side
branches, till the plants are arrived at a stem
of forty, fifty, or sixty feet, and they may then
be permitted to run to head without further
pruning.

The particular arrangement here recom-
mended may be varied according to any pe-
culiarities of situation, regard being constantly
had to the general and most important prin-
ciple of loosening the ground very deep pre-
viously to planting the acorns. By this mode
of culture, Oaks may be raised in almost any
soil ; but, where it is pofsible, a loam or
marl is alvvavs to be chosen. Oaks thrive

448 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

much the best in such earth ; and, when
afsisted by deep trenching and judicious pru-
ning, attain in a few years to an immense
size.

Those who have been accustomed to notice
the slow growth and stunted appearance of
Oak Trees, when denied the afsistance of art,
and left to themselves in the common way,
would observe with astonishment the vigorous
and rapid increase of plants under the manage-
ment now pointed out.

The plants thinned out the first three or
four years, though not fit to be depended up-
on for timber, as transplanting generally in-
jures very materially the future growth, may
be replanted in the interrfiediate spaces be-
tween the rows, for the purpose of being
afterwards removed ; or they may be use-
fully placed in hedges, or other spare and un-
occupied spots of ground. They should be
headed down at the time of transplanting, as
this operation afsists the procefs of nature,
in reproducing or remedying any injury the
tap-root may have received from the removal :
and, if proper attention be given to loosening
the soil for their reception, and pruning them

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 449

as they advance, in most instances an adequate
profit will be derived from the labour be-
stowed upon them. After a few years, the
produce of the timber-plantation will be found
very advantageous. The young trees that are
to be removed yearly, will always find a ready
market for a variety of purposes, unnecefsary
here to enumerate. In addition to these ad-
vantages, if by this treatment of deep trench-
ing previous to planting, and annual careful
pruning during the growth, timber can be
produced in about fifty years, of equal quality,
and much superior in size, to that which has
been above one hundred years growing under
improper management, or without the afsist-
ance of cultivation : it will doubtlefs be al-
lowed that a most beneficial, if not absolutely
the best pofsible m^ethod of " raising Oaks,"
is here pointed out and ascertained.

This method of cultivation may perhaps be
thought to occasion so much expense in ma-
nual labour as to prevent its being generally
adopted : it might perhaps be sufficient to
observe, that if the work be conducted with
judgment and economy, the future produce
would afford ample returns for all necefsary
expenditure: it should also be recollected.

430 GEOSLGICAL ESSAYS.

that the previous preparation of the ground,
and the subsequent pruning of the plants, are
both to be performed at that season of the
year when a scarcity of work will enable the
planter to obtain afsistance upon easier terras ;
with tiiis additional advantage also, of pro-
viding employment for the labourer at those
times when the general state of agricultural
businefs renders it difficult for him to find
maintenance for himself and family without
charitable relief.

In 1750, at Ingestrie, in Staffordshire, the
seat of Lord Chetwynd, seme plantations
were formed and managed in a great measure
according to the principles here stated, and
the growth of the plants was so uncom-
monly rapid, and so extraordinary, that it
could not but attract the notice of all con-
cerned in the conduct of them. The atten-
tion to the subject, then excited, has been the
occasion and ground of all the observations
and experiments made from that time to the
present, the result of which is here given.

The extensive plantations of the late Lord .
Denbeigh, at Newnham Paddox, in M'arwick-
shire, are well known and much admired.

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 451

The whole has been conducted with great
judgment. About a square acre has been
employed in raising Oaks upon a plan nearly
similar to that now proposed, and affords the
best and most convincing proof of the superior
utility and efficacy of such management.
Had the noble Earl been now living, I should
have been enabled to have laid before the
public some more detailed particulars: That,
however, is not impofsible ; this Efsay, there-
fore, in its present state may perhaps be
thought not altogether unworthy of notice,
as tending to forward and contribute, to the
advantage of the public, the author con-
ceiving that the best method of raising Oaks
is ascertained and stated in it.

According to the statements made in this
Efsay, and indeed from what may be seen in
every part of the kingdom, in the character
and appearance of Oaks growing without
cultivation, it seems ascertained, that " acorns
*' set with the spade or dibble, without dig-
" ging or tillage," can never be depended on
to form good timberj and even in the most
favourable circumstances of this case, the
growth will be exceedingly slow and preca-
rious. The same may be said of " young

452 GEORGICAL E3SAY3.

" plants, previously raised in nurseries, and
" transplanted " for if the tap-root be cut,
broken, or in any degree injured, which in
transplanting it is almost impofsible to avoid,
that plant will seldom become a vigorous and
flourishing tree. The raising even one acre
in the manner here ascertained, might be pro-
ductive of great pecuniary advantage, if the
facts and experience here detailed are per-
mitted to prove the inutility of the other two
methods, and consequently to remove the
necefsity of employing so much ground upon
them, at an expense they will never repay.

ESSAY XXVII.

On the Spanish Chesnut,

1 AM of opinion, that, for hop-poles and
stakes, the chesnut has no equal, in point of
durability,and consequently no underwood can
be applied to those purposes with equal profit.
It is said that it is not so quick in its growth
as ash ; upon a moist soil, I think it is not,
but upon a sand or loam, I apprehend it will

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 453

IvCep full pace with the ash, and attain suffi-
cient size for hop-poles in fourteen years, and
be worth at that age two guineas a hundred,
and last, with proper care, twenty years; whilst
ash,* which seldon comes to sufficient size in
lefs than twenty years, will only bear two-
thirds of the price, and decay in half the
time.

For gates and hurdles it is equally good,
and being lefs heavy than oak, is another
great recommendation to it, as it is removed
trom one place to another with greater ease.
To these and many other purposes, chesnut,
trained and cut as underwood, is peculiarly
adapted ; and, in point of beauty, no wood
surpafses it, as it admits of close planting, runs
strait in its branches, and always appears
florid and healthy.

I shall next consider the value of the Spanish
chesnut for timber, in which (except for the
unrivalled purposes cf ship-building) it will be
found for most uses equal to the oak, and in
buildings and out-door work much superior.

In 1676, an ancestor of the present Mr.
Windham, of Felbrigg, in Norfolk, had the
Volume VI. , G o-

454 GEORGICAL ESSAYS,

merit of being a considerable planter of ches-
nut. In the space of fifty years, it is presumed
these plantations required thinning, as his
succefsor about that tinie began to apply this
timber to useful purposes upon his estate.

The first account is of the branch or limb
of a chesnut, about thirteen inches square,
which, in the year 1726, was put down as a
hanging post for a gate, and carried the gate
without alteration, fifty-two years, when, upon
altering the inclosures of the farm where it
stood, it was taken up, under my direction,
and appearing to be perfectly sound, was put
down for a clapping-post in another place.

In 1743, a large barn was built with some
of this timber, and is now as sound in every
part, beams, principals, and spars, as when
first the barn was built : about the same time,
several chesnut posts and rails were put down,
which I have since seen removed, and after
standhig thirty, or forty years, generally ap-
peared so sound, as to admit of being set up
in some other place.

The last instance I shall mention, though
not of long date, will shew the great superi-

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 455

ority of this timber over oak in fences. In
the year 1772, the present Mr. AVindham
made a large plantation in his park, which
was fenced with posts and rails, converted
from young oaks and chesnuts of the same
age and scantling, such as were picked out of
a place where they stood too thick. Last
year, upon Mr. Windham's enlarging his
plantation, it was necefsary to remove this
fence— when the chesnut posts were found
as sound as when they were first put down,
but those of the oak were so much wasted,'
just below the surface of the ground, that they
could not be used for the same purposes
again, without the afsistance of a spur to sup-
port them.

Gg2

456 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

ESSAY XXVIII.

On the Formation of Underwoods.

It is much to be lamented, that in the forma-
trbn of Undervcoods, so little attention seems
to'have been had to the sort of tree requisite
'for such purposes. Instead of the Spanish
chesnut or ash, it is too common to see large
tracts of wood land whose underwoods con-
sist chiefly of hazel, hornbeam, and others of
little use but for fuel ; whereas the first-
mentioned trees, besides being equally ser-
viceable for that purpose with the latter, are
greatly superior to them, as well as to most
others in efsential uses : so that, at the same
time that the refuse of their growths might
be consigned to the fire, the better parts might
be destined to those purposes for which they
are more particularly suited ; and by such ma-
nagement a double advantage would arise.

Amidst a variety of subordinate uses to
which, from my own observation, the Spanish
chesnut seems adapted, are those of poles for

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 457

hops, and stakes for various purposes of hus-
bandry. I have formed several plantations ot
this tree, with the view of treating it as un-
derwood. The tree itself pofsefses a peculiar
faculty of branching, provincially called slub-
bifig, from the roots after being cut down, and
this in a much greater degree than any ot the
useful forest-trees; so strong indeed is its pro-
pensity that way, that it is with some diffi-
culty and attention that timber-trees of the
chesnut are restrained from this redundancy
of growth, which it is apprehended, by pre-
venting part of the nutrition from ascending
the stem, is apt to hinder their progrefs : but
this quality, however inconvenient it may be
in its effects to trees intended for the pur-
poses of timber, is of eminent advantage to
those designed for underwood ; since, when
the tree, after standing two or perhaps three
years, to enable it to form a sufficient root, is
cut down to a proper distance from the
ground, it throws up in the following summer
a profusion of strait shoots, which in due time
become poles, such as for strength and dura-
bility exceed all others whatsoever, even those
from the ash, which is generally considered
as the best tree for this purpose.

4 Gg3

458 GEOEGICAL ESSAYS.

Chesnut poles, it must be confefsed, are
slower in growth than those from the ash ;
but, on account of their greater durability,
they are more profitable to the pofsefsor;
and I have been credibly informed, that in
some parts of Kent where this useful tree has
been adapted to this purpose, its superiority
to the ash is uncontroverted.

For the purposes of stakes for hedges, or
other uses of that nature, its superiority seems
4?qually established. I some time since
formed a hedge, the stakes of which are
wholly from chesnut-trees of my own plant-
ing : they are of such a degree of hardnefs, as
to satisfy me, that the character given of its use
for such purposes is by no means unfounded.

The plantations of this tree which I have
formed, except that above-mentioned, are
mostly cut down for underwood : the luxu-
riancy and quantity of shoots from the stubs
afford me great satisfaction, and will, with-
out doubt, answer my highest expectation.

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 4^P

ESSAY XXIX.

On Lime.

A KNOW nothing of more importance, lefs
attended to by farmers in general, than the
quality of lime. Not unfrequently in driving
home, what they understand to be a thousand
loads of lime, they are unknowingly bestow-
ing their money, their time, and their labour,
on a disguised substance, the half of which is
sand or clay, This disguise too, can seldom
be detected by the eye, or any of the other
organs of perception. Plain directions there-
fore for discovering the qualities of lime, it is
beheved, may not be unworthy of notice.

Lime is an alkaline salt of such a nature,
that if quite pure, it may be wholly difsolved
in any strong acid or vinegar. It melts as
completely away in this menstruum as com-
mon salt or sugar. Hence, it is very easy to
try the comparative value of two or more pieces
of limestone from different quarries. Bjv a

G g 4

460 GEOELGICAL ESSAYS.

bottle of muriatic acid, which may be obtained
from any laboratory. Tlien weigh out equal
quantities of the limestones, the comparative
quality of which you mean to ascertain, mix-
ing together a due proportion of the different
seams or strata, that are commonly wrought
in each quarr}-. Tliat limestone which leaves
least sediment when difsolved, is of course the
best.

There can be no comparison made, however,
if you take unburnt limestone of one rock,
and burnt stones or slacked lime of another.
Each portion for trial, must be precisely in the
same state. For all pure unburnt limestones,
contain about two-fifths or 40 per cent, of
their weight of air (carbonic acid gafs,) which
is expelled by burning. Of consequence, a
given weight of burnt limestone, must contain
a proportion equal to this, of more refuse than
the same weight of unburnt rock. ^loreover,
by the knowledge of the exact lofs of weight
occasioned by burning, a calculation may be
raade of the expediency of driving home lime-
stone, to be burnt in some cases where the
fuel is only to be got near home. In general,
it is most profitable to carry off limestone as
soon as burnt, in order to avoid weight or car-

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 4^1

riage, because, whenever it again grows cold,
it begins to imbibe its carbonic acid from the
atmosphere.

If lime is not pure, it is obvious that it will
l,ose a great deal lefs weight in burning than
pure lime. Hence arises another criterion for
trying the goodnefs (5f lime. The lighter it is,
for its bulk, or the more weight it loses in
burning, the better. AVeigh a piece of lime-
stone, burn it properly, then weigh it again.
it it has lost as much as two-fifths of its weight
by burning, it is good lime.

Unburnt limestone seldom contains more
than eighty per cent, of pure chalk or car-
bonate of lime. Pitlefsie quarry in Fife, be-
longing to Mr. Low of Anniield, has one stra-
tum, containing 99i per cent of corbonate of
lime, which is the purest limestone I have ever
heard of. Perhaps, however, some fine mar-
bles may be even more pure.

The colour of lime is no criterion of its
goodnefs ; for instance, Aberdour lime, which
is blue, was found, on a comparative trial, to
be richer than a quantity of Sunderland lime,

462 GEOHeiCAL ESSAYS.

which was of a bright white colour, indicating
purity in the general opinion.

Another method of trying the comparative
goodnefs of lime, is by ascertaining what
quantity of proper mortar fit for building (and
which should fall readily off the mason's
trowel) can be made from a given quantity
of lime. As this may be done easily on a
large scale, it is, in my humble apprehension,
the best method of trial, because a large
quantity of lime most generally contains a
due mixture and proportion of all the different
strata of the rock which are frequently exceed-
ingly different in quality.

Some limes require no sand at all to make
mortar for building ; and these are esteemed
by intelligent masons the best for architecture,
as making the strongest cement. But such
limestone, containing perhaps more than three-
fourths of its bulk of sand, can seldom be
applied with economy to the purposes of agri-
culture.

I was once present at a comparative trial
by masons of two cargoes of lime, each of

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 463

which was accounted excellent. The one
was from the neighbourhood of Aberdour, of
a quarry belonging to the Earl of IMorton, the
other from a quarry in the vicinity of Edin-
burgh. The lime, of Aberdour, when slacked,
produced three times their quantity of pow-
dered lime J and that powdered lime required
three times its quantity of clean sand to make
good mortar for building. In other words,
each boll of Aberdour lime, by being watered,
became three bolls of quick lime powder,
and each boll of the powder became good
mortar with three bolls of sand. Thus each
boll of these burnt limestones was converted
into no Icfs than nine bolls of building mortar,
whereas each boll of the Edinburgh lime,
slacked to two bolls of powder, and each
of the bolls of powder required only two
bolls ot sand to make proper mortar. Thus
the boll of Edinburgh-burnt limestone was
convertible into no more than four times its
quantity of m-ovtar.

464 GE.ORGICAL ESSAYS.

ESSAY XXX.

On House Lambs.

X HE ewes are always, without exception, of
the Dorsetshire breed, and even of these there
are not more than one in three that will lamb
sufficiently early for the purpose of house-
lamb.

The early lambing ewes are sought for by
the breeders of this county (Middlesex) with
great diligence throughout the county of
Dorset, and at the fairs where such stock are
usually sold. The prices vary, from 35s. to 42s.

The sheep which begin to lamb about
Michaelmas, are kept in the close during the
day, and in the house during the night, until
they have produced twenty or thirty lambs.
These lambs are then put into a lamb-house,
which is kept constantly well littered with
clean wheat straw ; and chalk, both in lump
and in powder, is provided for them to lick,
in order to prevent loosenefs, and thereby

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 465

preserve the Jambs in health. As a pre-
vention against gnawing the boards, or eating
each other's wool, a little wheat-straw is
placed, with the ears downwards, in a rack
within their reach, with which they amuse
themselves, and of which they eat a small
quantity.

In this house they are kept, with great care
and attention, until fit for the butcher. ,»

The mothers of the lambs are turned, every
night at eight o'clock, into the lamb-house
to their offspring. At six o'clock in the
morning these mothers are separated from
their lambs, and turned into the pastures j
and at eight o'clock, such ewes as have lost
their own lambs, and those ewes whose lambs
are sold, are brought in, and held by the head
till the lambs by turns suck them clean ;
they are then turned into the pasture ; and at
twelve o'clock the mothers of the iambs are
driven from the pasture into the lamb-house
for an hour, in the course of which time each
lamb is suckled by its mother. At four
o'clock all the ewes that have not lambs of
their own are again brought to the lamb-
house, and held for the lambs to suck ; and

466 CEO'RGICAL ESSAYS. |

!

at eight the modiers of the lambs are brought i

to them for the nigiit. ,

i

I
If a ewe gives more milk than its lamb '

will suck, the superabundance is given to the
twins, or to any other lamb whose mother \
may not be able to furnish it with sufficient ,
food. The shepherd must in this case hold
the ewe, or she would not suffer the strange !
Iamb to suck. From their timid nature, it is '
extremely efsential that they should be kept
free from every species of unnecefsary dis-
turbance. This method of suckling is con- !
tinued all the year. The breeders select such j
of the lambs as become fat enough, and of j
proper age (about eight weeks old) for ,
slaughter, and send them to market during \
December, and three or four succeeding i
months, at prices which vary from one guinea
to four, and the rest of the year at about two |
guineas each. This is severe work for the ;
ewes, and some of them die under excefs of ;
exhaustion. However, care is taken that j
they have plenty of food ; for when green '
food (viz. turnips, cole, rye, tares, clover. Sec.) j
begins to fail, brewers' grains are given them ]
in troughs, and second-crop hay in racks j as j
well to support the ewes, as to supply the «

GEORGICAL ESSAYS, 467

lambs with plenty of milk : for if that should
not be abundant, the lambs would become
stunted, in which case no food could fatten
them.

The ewes should be kept free from the foot-
rot and scab ; and if they have any pitch mark
on them when they lamb, it must be cut off
before the lambs be taken into the house,
or they will eat it, and thereby greatly pre-
judice their future growth.

A lamb-house, to suckle from 160 to 180
lambs at a time, should be 70 feet long and
18 feet broad, with three coops of different
sizes at each end, so constructed as to divide
the lambs according to their ages.

The ewes, when separated from the lambs,
ought to be so disposed as to enable the
lambs to find their mothers without trouble ;
and for this purpose deal hurdles are used,,
placed about the middle of the sheep-house.

Punctuality of time in letting the ewes in
to the Iambs, and keeping the lamb-house
very cleanly littered, are very necefsary pre-
cautions.

408 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.'

ESSAY xxxr. '^

On the Poor.

VV iTH a view to stop the increase of the
poor rates, houses of industry have in many
places been established ; but they are grievous
things in the eyes of the poor, and I am
afraid, are not found to answer the end that
was expected from them. I know of no law
that can enforce industry ; it may be en-
couraged, and great good will result from it j
but it never can be effected by compulsion.

There are two principles which should be
kept alive, as much as pofsible, in the minds
of the poor — pride and shame : the former
will lead them to the attainment of comfort
by honest means; and the latter will keep
them from becoming burdensjme to their
neighbours. But many of the modern plans,
for making provisions for them, have tended
to destroy these principles.

A man born to no inheritance, who afsi-

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 469

duously devotes his whole life to labours when
nature declines, has as great a claim upon the
neighbourhood, where the labour of his youth
has been devoted, as the worn-out soldier or
sailor has to Chelsea or Greenwich ^ and this
reward ought to be as honourable, as it is com-
fortable, and not to be administered in a way
that is repugnant to that natural love of ra-
tional freedom which every human mind sym-
pathizes in the enjoyment of. Such a man, as
I have here characterized, ought to be dis-
tinguished from the lazy and profligate wretch,
who has seldom worked but by force. The
one ought not to be crowded into the same
habitation with the other j but in houses of
ipdustry there can be no distinction.

The social clubs for mutual relief, which
are prevalent in many parts of England, are
highly commendable ; and, perhaps, as well
worth the attention of the Board of Agricul-
ture, as any object they can take up. If a
little encouragement could be given to these
laudable societies, which are now sanctioned
by law, and proper places of security could
be established for their little funds, it would
tend very much to encourage the poor to
struggle with their difficulties ; and it would

Volume F/. H h

470 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

be consistent with sound policy, as well as
humanity, in the rich and opulent, to add
little donations to the poor man's fund, on
these occasions. Earl Harcourt's example,
at Nuneham, in Oxfordshire, is well deserv-
ing imitation ; if a poor man puts a penny
into the social box, he puts in another 5 if a
farmer or tradesman contributes a shilling,
he adds another ; and by this m.eans his lord-
ship's estate is kept in high credit, the poor-
rates are low, and the spirit of the peasantry
unbroken 5 which is the great thing that
•ought to be aimed at ; and unlefs some en-
couragement of this sort be given, it is im-
pofsible that the labourer in husbandry can,
when he has a family, procure his daily breads
with his present daily wages.

There is one thing which is incumbent on
all great farmers to do, and that is, to provide
comfortable cottages for two or three of their
most industrious labourers, and to lay two or
three acres of grafs land to each, to enable
such labourer to keep a cow and a pig ; such
a man is always a faithful servant to the far-
mer who employs him : he has a stake in the
common interest of the country, and is never
ptompt to riot, in times of sedition, like the

CEORGICAL ESSAYS. 471

man who has nothing to lose ; on the con-
trary, he is a strong link in the chain of na-
tional security.

There are but few great farmers, however,
inclined to accommodate cottagers with these
little portions of land, and when they do Jet
them any, it is generally at double the rent
they give for it. But I am persuaded, that if
there were a certain number of cottages, of
this description, in proportion to the size of
the estates, and they were accommodated in
this manner, and those places were bestowed
as a reward to labourers of particular good
conduct, it would do wonders towards the
reduction of the rates, and the preservation of
order ; for I have been witnefs to several
striking proofs of this, in two or three labourers,
who have been thus favoured, whose attach-
ment to their masters was exemplary, as they
were not only steady in themselves, but by
their example kept others from running into
cxcefs. There cannot well be too many of
these places attached to large farms ; they
would be the most prolific cradles of the best
sort of population.

There is another thing which it is incum-
5 II h 2

472 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

bent on all occupiers of land to do, which is,
to supply their own labourers with wheat at
a moderate price — when the price in the
market is bigh and opprefsive to them. It is
but reasonable, that the human servant should
fare as well as the animal servant : a farmer
does not give his horse a lefs quantity of oats,
because they are dear, nor is it reasonable
that the ploughman, or thrasher in his barn,
should have lefs for his penny, because the
master gets a great price ; but I do not mean
to say, this should be extended to manufac-
turers, because they are in general better paid
than labourers in agriculture, and have not so
immediate a claim upon the land, as the work-
men in the vineyard.

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 473

ESSAY XXXII.

On the Education of the Poor.

J. HERE are some who allege that the edu-
cation of the lower clafses is not only uselefs,
but hurtful 3 nay, some carry the matter so
far, as to affirm, that it would be much better
for society, if the greater part of them could
neither write nor read. For, say they, that
enlargement of mind which they thus acquire,
is apt to render them self-conceited, and dis-
contented with their lotj lefs tractable and
submifsive to their superiors ; averse to the
low and laborious, though necefsary occupa-
tions of life ; and ambitious of situations and
employments to which they have no title to

aspire.

This notion of public education, is so illibe-
ral, so impolitic, and, in its consequences, so
unjust, that I am confident few entertain it,
and fewer still will be hardy enough to avow
it. Indeed, it is so exceedingly absurd, that
it scarcely deserves attention. Absurd as it
2 Hh 3

474 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

is, however, it may be improper, as it has
been mentioned, to suffer it to pafs altogether
unnoticed.

Have they, who embrace this wild opinion,
I would ask, drawn the line between those
clafses in society, who are to enjoy the privi-
lege of education, and those who are not?
Have they said how far down the scale of
rank, knowledge may be allowed to descend,
and where ignorance is to begin ? They do
not mean, surely, to exclude farmers, manu-
facturers, merchants, shopkeepers, tradesmen,
and mechanics. Without reading, writing,
and arithmetic, how could such people manage
their affairs with any degree of order or ex-
actnefs? How could they keep regular ac-
counts, so necefsary in businefs, or make out
bills to their employers? Gentlemen would
find it very inconvenient, I suppose, if their
principal servants at least had no education.
How unfit for their office would stewards,
butlers, housekeepers, and principal farm-
servants be, if they could neither read nor
write? Even common labourers, and com-
mon servants, in this country, would often
find a total ignorance of letters a great dis-
advantage. And is society at large to be de-

CEORGICAL ESSAYS. 475

prived of a privilege which the gVeat body of
the people find so necefsary in the common
transactions of life, merely to obviate an ideal
objection, which, had it any force, can apply
only to the lowest and least numerous clafs ?

Again, let me ask, is not Christianity the
established religion of this country? Is it not
the gift of Heaven to the poor as well as to the
rich ? Are not all, the servant as well as the
master, the peasant as well as the peer, com-
manded to search the scriptures ? And can any
man, consistently with his character and pro-
fefsion as a Christian, propose to withhold
education from the lower ranks, and thereby
render them incapable of reading their Bibles,
and other books of religious and moral instruc-
tion, so necefsary to their improvement in
the knowledge of their duty, and their conso-
lation under the toils and hardships of their
humble lot ?

Permit me to ask further, whether the
system of those who hold the opinion in dis-
pute, does not tear from the British Constitu-
tion one of its fairest ornaments, and destroy
one of the strongest arguments, by which the
attachment and veneration of the people can

Hh4,

476 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

be secured r Talents, abilities, and industry,
are the chief distinctions which it profefses to
acknowledge. These it encourages and pro-
tects : and, pofsefsed of these, the meanest
and most obscure are permitted to rise to afflu-
ence, to honour, and to power. But how
can any man avail himself of this constitutional
advantage, if he is arrested at his outset by a
regulation excluding him from the very first
principles of literature ?

I would ask, likewise, whether the dignity,
strength, and general prosperity of any nation
or state are not greatest, when genius, talents,
and abilities, in whatever clafs or order of men
in the community they may exist, are encou-
raged and permitted to exert themselves with-
out check or control r And as these qualities
do not belong exclusively to any particular
rank, nor descend by inheritance in any parti-
cular line, is it not incumbent on those, who
consult for the public interest, to adopt the
most proper measures for the discovery and
improvement of them ? But can any scheme be
devised, that will answer this end more effec-
tually, than the establishment of parochial
schools, suitably endowed, and under proper
regulations? In these little seminaries of edu-

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 477

cation, while the children are instructed in the
first principles of morals and literature, their
young minds are opened j scope is given to
their several powers and capacities to unfold
themselves, and the strength and bent of
every particular genius is, in some measure,
discovered ; by which means a right judg-
ment may, in most cases, be formed of the
particular department in life in which they
will act with the greatest advantage j and con-
sequently the subsequent plan of education
most proper to be followed with that view,
can with greater certainty be determined.
The advantages, in this respect, of extending
the means of education to every rank in
society, are not merely fanciful and imaginary.
They are known to be real, from fact and ex-
perience. How many men, descended from
the lowest clafses, have done honour to
themselves, and signal service to their country,
by the exertion of talents which, but for the
little school of their native parish, would have
remained for ever uselefs and unknown ?

I have only to add, that the scheme of de-
priving the lower clafses of the means of edu-
cation, and thereby keeping them in grofs ig-
\ norance, is inconsistent with the principles ot

478 CEORGICAL ESSAYS.

sound policy, and, if acted upon, might, in the
present state of things, be productive of the
most serious mischief to the State. In this
idea I am supported by the sentiments of an
eminent philosopher of the present age. Dr.
Smith, in his celebrated Treatise on the
Wealth of Nations, exprefses himself, upon
this subject, in the following words : " A
man, without the proper use of the faculties
of a man, is, if pofsible, more contemptible
than even a coward; and seems to be mu-
tilated and deformed in a still more essen-
tial part of the character of human nature.
Though the State were to derive no advan-
tage from the instruction of the inferior
ranks of people, it would still deserve its
attention that they should not be altogether
uninstructed. The State, however, derives
no inconsiderable advantage from their in-
struction. The more they are instructed, the
lefs liable they are to the delusions of en-
thusiasm and superstition, which, among ig-
norant nations, frequently occasion the most
dreadful disorders. And mstructed and in-
telligent people, besides, are always more de-
cent and orderly than an ignorant and stupid
one. Thev feel themselve?, each individu-
ally, more respectable, and more likely to

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 479

obtain the respect of their lawful superiors ;
and they are, therefore, more disposed to re-
spect those superiors. They are more dis-
posed to examine, and more capable of seeing
through, the interested complaints of faction
and sedition : and they are, upon that ac-
count, lefs apt to be misled into any wanton
or unnecefsary opposition to the measures of
Government. In free countries, where the
safety of Government depends very much
upon the favourable judgment which the
people may form of its conduct, it must surely
be of the highest importance, that they should
not be disposed to judge rashly or caprici-
ously concerning it."

480 GEORGICAL ESSAYS-

ESSAY XXXIIL

Oji Animal and Vegetable Life.

x\midst the infinitely different productions
which the earth offers, and with which it is
every where covered, animals hold the first
rank : as well because of the finer formation
of their parts as of their superior power. The
vegetable, which is fixed to one spot, and
obliged to wait for its accidental supplies of
nourishment, may be considered as the pri-
soner of nature. Unable to correct the dis-
advantages of its situation, or to shield itself
from the dangers that surround it, every ob-
ject that has motion may be its destroyer.

But, animals are endowed with powers of
motion and defence. The greatest part are
capable, by changing place, of commanding
Nature ; and of thus obliging her to furnish
that nourishment which is most agreeable to
their state. Those few that are fixed to one
spot, even in this seemingly helplefs situation.

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 481

are, neverthelefs, protected from external in-
jury, by a hard shelly covering, which they
often can close at pleasure, and thus defend
themselves from every afsault. And here, I
think, we may draw the line between the
animal and vegetable kingdoms. Every ani-
mal, by some means or other, finds protection
fi-om injury ; either from its force, or courage,
its swiftnefs, or cunning. Some are protected
by hiding in convenient places ^ and others
by taking refuge in a hard resisting shell.
But vegetables are totally unprotected ; they
are exposed to every afsailant, and patiently
submifsive in every attack. In a word, an
animal is an organized being that is in some
measure provided for its own security 5 a ve-
getable is destitute of every protection.

But though it is very easy, without the help
of definitions, to distinguish a plant from an
animal, yet both pofsefs many properties so
much alike, that the two kingdoms, as they are
called, seemed mixed with each other. Hence,
it frequently puzzles the naturalist to tell ex-
actly where animal life begins, and vegetative
terminates ; nor, indeed, is it easy to resolve,
whether some objects offered to view be of
the lowest of the animal, or the highest of the

48^ GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

vegetable races. The sensitive plant, that
moves at the touch, seems to have as much
perception as the fresh water polypus, that is
pofsefsed of a still slower share of motion.
Besides, the sensitive plant will not re-pro-
duce upon cutting in pieces, which the poly-
pus is known to do ; so that the vegetable
production seems to have the superiority. But,
notwithstanding this, the polypus hunts for
its food, as most other animals do. It changes
its situation, and therefore pofsefses a power
of choosing its food, or retreating from danger.
Still, therefore, the animal kingdom is far re-
moved above the vegetable ; and its lowest
denizen is pofsefsed of very great privileges,
when compared with the plants with which it
is often surrounded.

However, both clafses have many resem-
blances, by w^hich they are raised above the
unorganized and inert mafses of natnre. Mi-
nerals are mere inactive, insensible bodies, en-
tirely motionlefs of themselves, and waiting
some external force to alter their forms, or
their properties. But it is otherwise with
animals and vegetables ; these are endued
with life and vigour ; they have their state of
improvement and decay ; they are capable of

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 48S

reproducing their kinds -, they grow from
seeds, in some, and from cuttings in others ;
they seem all pofsefsed of sensation, in a
greater or lefs degree ; they both have their
enmities and affections ; and as some animals
are, by nature, impelled to violence, so some
plants are found to exterminate all others, and
make a wildernefs of the places round them.
As the lion makes a desert of the forest where
it resides, thus no other plant will grow un-
der the shade of the machinel-tree. Tlius,
also, that plant, in the West Indies, called
caraguata, clings round whatever tree it hap-
pens to approach ; there it quickly gains the
ascendant j and, loading the same with a ver-
dure not its own, keeps away that nourish-
ment designed to feed the trunk ; and, at last,
entirely destroys its supporter.

As all animals are ultimately supported
upon vegetables, so vegetables are greatly
propagated, by being made a part of animal
food. Birds distribute the seeds wherever they
fly, and quadrupeds prune them into greater
luxuriance. By these means the quantity of
food, in a state of nature, is kept equal to the
number of the consumers j and, lest some of
the weaker ranks of animals should find

484 fiEORGICAL ESSAYS.

nothing for their support, but all the provi-
sions be devoured by the strong, different ve-
getables are appropriated to different appe-
tites. If transgrefsing this rule, the stronger
ranks should invade the rights of the weak,
and, breaking through all regard to appetite,
should make an indiscriminate use of every
vegetable, nature then punishes the trans-
grefsion, and poison marks the crinje as p^-
ptaj.

If again we compare vegetables and ani-
mals, with respect to the places where they
are found, w^e shall find them bearing a still
stronger similitude. The vegetables that grow
in a dry and sunny soil, are strong and vigor-
ous, though not luxuriant ; so, also, are the
animals of such a climate. Those, ori the
contrary, that are the joint product of heat
and moisture, are luxuriant and tender : and
the animals afsimilating to the vegetable food,
on which they ultimately subsist, arc much
larger in such places than in others. Thus,
in the internal parts of South America, and
Africa, where the sun usually scorches all
above, while inundations cover all below, the
Jnsects, reptiles, and other animals, grow to
a prodigious size. On the contrary, in the

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 485

cold frozen regions of the north, where vege-
table nature is stinted of its growth, the few
animals in those climates partake of the di-
minution 5 all the wild animals, except the
bear, are much smaller than in milder coun-
tries 5 and such of the domestic kinds as are
carried thither, quickly degenerate, and grow
lefs. Their very insects are of the minute
kindsj their bees and spiders being not half so
large as those in the temperate zone.

The similitude between vegetables and ani-
mals is no where more obvious than in those
that belong to the ocean, where the nature of
one is admirably adapted to the necefsities of
the other. This element, it is well known, has
its vegetables and its insects that feed upon
them in great abundance. Over many tracts
of the sea, a weed is seen floating, which
covers the surface, and gives the resemblance
of a green and extensive meadow. On the
under side of these unstable plants, millions
of little animals are found, adapted to their
situation. For as their ground, if I may so
exprefs it, lies over their heads, their feet are
placed upon their backs ; and as land animals
have their legs below their bodiesj these have
them above.

Volume VL I i

486 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

Thus, in all places, we perceive an obvions
similitude between the animals and the ve-
getables of every region. In general, how-
ever, the most perfect races have the least si-
militude to the vegetable productions on which
they are ultimately fed; while, on the con-
trary, the meaner the animal, the more local
it is found to be, and the more it is in-
fluenced by the varieties of the soil where it
resides. Many of the more humble reptile
kinds are not only confined to one country,
but also to a plant ; nay, even to a leaf.
Upon that they subsist ; increase with its ve-
getation, and seem to decay as it declines.
They are merely the circumscribed inhabitants
of a single vegetable ; take them from that
and they instantly die. For this reason there
are infinite numbers of the meaner animals
that we have never an opportunity of seeing
in this part of the world ; they are incapable
of living separate from their kindred vege-
tables, which grow only in a certain climate.

Such animals as are formed more perfect,
lead a life of led dependence ; and some
kinds are found to subsist in many parts of
the world at the same time. But of all the
races of Animated Nature, man is the least

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 487

affected by the soil where he resides, and least
influenced by the variations of vegetable sus-
tenance: equally unaffected by the luxuriance
of the warm climates, or the sterility of the
poles, he has spread his habitations over the
whole earth ; and finds subsistence as well
amidst the ice of the north as the burnina:
deserts under the line. All creatures of an
inferior nature, as has been said, have peculiar
propensities to peculiar climates ; they are
circumscribed to zones, and con6ned to ter-
ritories where their proper food is found in
the greatest abundance ; but man may be
called the animal of every climate, and suffers
but very gradual alterations from the nature
of any situation.

As to animals of a meaner rank, whom
man compels to attend him in his migrations,
these being obliged to live in a kind of con-
straint and upon vegetable food, often different
from that of their native soil, they very soon
alter their natures with the nature of their
nourishment, afsimilate to the vegetables upon
which they are fed, and thus afsume very
different habits as well as appearances. Thus
man, unaffected himself, alters and directs the
nature of other animals at his pleasure ;

li 2

488 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

increases their strength for his delight; or their
patience for his necefsities.

And this power of altering the appearances of
things, seems to have been given him for very
wise purposes. The Deity, when he made
the earth, was willing to give his favoured
creature many opponents, that might at once
exercise his virtues, and call forth his latent
abilities. Hence we find, in those wide un-
cultivated wildernefses, where man, in his
savage state, owns inferior strength, and the
beasts claim divided dominion, that the whole
forest swarms with noxious animals and vege-
tables; animals, as yet undescribed, and
vegetables which want a name. In those
recefses, Nature seems rather lavish than mag-
nificent, in bestowing life. The trees are
usually of the largest kinds, covered round
with parasite plants, and interwoven at the
tops with each other. The boughs, both
above and below, are peopled with various
generations ; some of which have never been
upon the ground, and others have never stirred
from the branches on which they were pro-
duced. In this manner millions of minute
and loathsome creatures pursue a round of
uninterrupted ejiistence, and enjoy a life

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 489

scarce superior to vegetation. At the same
time, the vegetables, in those places, are of
the larger kinds, while the animal race is of
the smaller : but man has altered this dis-
position of Nature ; having, in a great measure,
levelled the extensive forests, cultivated the
softer and finer vegetables, destroyed the
numberlefs tribes of minute and noxious ani-
mals, and taken every method to increase a
numerous breed of the larger kinds. He
thus has exercised a severe control ; unpeopled
Nature, to embellish it ; and diminished the
size of the vegetable, in order to improve that
of the animal kingdom.

To subdue the earth to his own use, was,
and ought to be, the aim of man ; which was
only to be done by increasing the number of
plants, and diminishing that of animals : to
multiply existence, alone was that of the
Deity. For this reason, we find, in a state of
nature, that animal life is increased to the
greatest quantity pofsible : and we can scarce
form a system that could add to its numbers.
First, plants, or trees, are provided by Nature
of the largest kinds; and, consequently, the
nourishing surface is thus extended. In the
second place, there are animals peculiar to
3 lis

490 CEOHGICAL ESSAYS.

every part of the vegetable, so that no part of
it is lost. But the greatest pofsible increase
of life would still be deficient, were there not
other animals that lived upon animals them-
selves ; and these are, themselves, in turn, food
tor some other greater and stronger set of crea-
tures. Were all animals to live upon vegetables
alone, thousands would be extinct that now
have existence, as the quantity of their pro-
vision would shortly fail. But as things are
wisely constituted, one anirnal now supports
another; and thus all take up lefs room than
they would by living on the same food ; as,
to make use of a familiar instance, a greater
number of people may be crowded into the
same space, if each is made to bear his fellow
upon his shoulders.

To diminish the number of animals, and
increase that of vegetables, has been the ge-
neral scope of human industry ; and if wc
compare the utility of the kinds, with respect
to man, we shall find, that of the vast varietv
in the animal kingdom, but very few are ser-
viceable to him J and in the vegetable, but
very few are entifely noxious. How small a
part of the insect tribes, for instance, are be-
neficial to mankind, and what numbers are

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 491

injurious ! In some countries they almost
darken the air : a candle cannot be lighted
without their instantly flying upon it, and
putting out the flame*. The closest rcccfDcs
are no safeguard from their annoyance ; and
the most beautiful landscapes of Nature only
serve to invite their rapacity. As these are
injurious, from their multitudes, so most of
the larger kinds are equally dreadful to him,
from their courage and ferocity. In the most
uncultivated parts of the forest these maintain
an undisputed empire ; and man invades
their retreats with terror.^ These are terrible ;
and there are still more that are utterly uselefs
to him, that serve to take up that room which
more bencfical creatures might pofsefs ; and
incommode him rather with their numbers
than their enmities. Thus, in a catalogue of
Jand animals, that amounts to more than
twenty thousand, we can scarcely reckon up
a hundred that are any way useful to him ;
the rest being either all his open, or his
secret enemies, immediately attacking him in
person, or intruding upon that food he has
appropriated to himself. Vegetables, on the
contrary, though existing in greater variety, are

* Ulloa's Descripiion of Guayaquil.

I i 4

492 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

but few of them noxious. The most deadly
poisons are often of great use in medicine j
and even those plants that only seem to
cumber the ground, serve for food to that race
of animals which he has taken into friendship,
or protection. The smaller tribes of vege-
tables, in particular, are cultivated, as con-
tributing either to his necefsities, or amuse-
ment; so that vegetable life is as much
promoted by human industry, as animal life
is controlled and diminished.

Hence, it was not without a long struggle,
and various combinations, of *^-.periencc and
art, that man acquired his present dominion.
Almost every good that he pofsefses was the
result of the contest ; for every day as he
was contending, he was growing more wise ;
and patience and fortitude were the fruits of
his industry.

From hence, also, we see the necefsity of
some animals living upon each other, to fill
up the plan of Providence ; and we may,
consequently, infer the expediency of man's
living upon all. Both animals and vegetables
seem equally fitted to his appetites ; andj
were any religious, or m*oral motives, to restrain

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 493

him from taking away life, upon any account,
he would only thus give existence to a variety
of beings made to prey upon each other ; and,
instead of preventing, he would only thus
multiply mutual destruction.

ESSAY XXXIV.

On Planting Trees in Hedge-raws.

Jl HE advocates for this practice say, that by
planting hedge-rows of trees in the direction
of the fence, the country is at once sheltered,
beautified, and improved ; and that the in-
terest of the proprietor is ultimately promoted
by the increasing value of the timber raised in
these hedge-rows. It is also said, that such
trees produce more branches for stack- wood,
knees for ship-builders, and bark for the tan-
ners J and they sell at a higher price per load
than trees grown in woods and groves.
Besides, close-pruning hedge-row trees, to the
height of twelve or fifteen feet, prevents their
damaging the hedge ; the shelter which they
afford is favourable to the vegetation both of

494 GE0R6ICAL ESSAYS.

grafs and corn ; it also tends to produce an
equable temperature in the climate, which is
favourable both to the production of greater
perfection and beauty in animals, and of
longevity to man.

"When trees are planted in the line of a
fence, if that fence is a hedge, the plants of
which it consists, will not only be deprived of
a great part of their nourishment by the trees,
but will also be greatly injured by the shade
they occasion, and the weight of the drop that
falls from them during wet weather; upon
this point little reasoning is necefsary ; for if
we appeal to facts, we will find that no good
hedge is to be met with, where there is a
hedge-row of trees planted along with it.

The mischief is not, however, confined solely
to hedges; the effects are equally bad, per-
haps worse, where the fence is a stone wall ;
for though In this case the shade or drop of
the trees are hardly, if at all, felt, yet when
they have attained a certain height, the work-
ing and straining of the roots during high
winds is such, that the foundations of the
wall are shaken and destroyed: accordingly,
wherever large trees are found growing near

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 495

Stone walls, the fence is cracked and shaken
by every gale of wind, is perpetually falling
into large gaps, and costs ten times the ex-
pense to keep it in repair, that would other-
wise be required if no trees were near it.

Admitting, however, that the trees in
hedge-rows were no way prejudicial to the
fence, which we have already shown is by no
means the case, another argument may be
succefsfully used against the practice. It is
seldom, indeed, that trees planted in hedge-
rows arrive at any great size ; on the contrary,
they are generally low and stunted; and while
they occasion a visible lofs by the mischief
they do the fence, their utmost worth, when
they come to be sold, will seldom be found
adequate to the lofs and inconvenience they
have occasioned. This is very satisfactorily
accounted for from the want of shelter; trees
planted in hedge-rows being exposed to every
inclement blast ; by that means they are de-
prived of VThat is very efsential to promote
their growth, and which is in fact the cause
why trees in large plantations thrive better
than when they are planted singly ; namely,
the mutual shelter which they afford to each
other; it being observed that all trees on the

496 GEORGICAL ESSAYS,

skirts of plantations are much lower than those
more removed from the extremity; this is
owing to their bearing the first gust of the
wind, which after being once broke, its vio-
lence is gradually abated, and in proportion
as the trees recede from theverge of the planta-
tions, they feel it )efs and rise higher.

Hedge-rows of trees are in a still more un-
protected situation than those which form the
skirts of a plantation, the latter being exposed
to the violence of the wind only when it
blows in one direction ; this is what is gene*
rally termed the prevailing wind ; when the
gale is from any other quarter they can
hardly be said to feel it; whereas, hedge-rows
are exposed to the ravages of every blast, in
whatever direction it may blow. There are,
no doubt, some favoured spots where not
only hedge-rows, but even single trees may
thrive, and attain a great size, without any
protection whatever ; the cases in which this
happens, are, however, but few, and can in no
sense be quoted in support of the general
practice of planting trees in hedge-rows.

It has often been hinted, and of late strongly
insisted upon, though we think with infi-

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 497

nitely more zeal than judgment, that the sides
of all the highways throughout the kingdom
should be planted with hedge-rows of oaks.
Very elaborate and highly-coloured statements
have been given of the advantages that would
result from the general Introduction of this
plan over the whole kingdom ; but from much
reflection, and a most attentive observation,
we are enabled to state, that the supposed be-
nefits held forth b^ the favourers of the system
of planting the sides of the highways, in lieu
of serving the public, would produce quite a
contrary effect. The mischief occasioned by
hedge-rows of trees upon the fences by way-
sides, has already been mentioned, and those
who have paid sufficient attention to the sub-
ject will bear testimony, that the roads are
injured in a still greater degree. The circum-
stances necefsary to form a proper road are,
a good bottom, proper materials, and a sufB-
cient declivity for carrying away the moisture,
together with a complete exposure to the sun
and air; where these are united, the road is
good, and lasts for a considerable time ; where
any of them are wanting, the reverse is the
case; for instance, though the bottom and
materials are of the best kind, if the road is

498 GEORGICAL, ESSAYS.

shaded with trees, or tall hedges, and excluded
from the benefit of the sun and wind, that
road will always be a bad one, and scarce any
exertion or expense will prevent it from being
so ; accordingly, throughout the whole king-
dom, the worst roads are uniformly met withj
in situations v/here belts of planting run pa-
rallel to them, or where very tall hedges grow;
on each side. The road contractors through-
out the kingdom will, from dear-bought ex-
perience, corroborate this to their cost, as they
uniformly find, that in every instance where
the roads are bounded either by tall hedges,
or belts of planting, the expense necefsary to
keep them in repair is more than doubled
-thereby, and the road, at the same time,
worse than it is in situations where they are
not shaded. This is remarkably the case, if
the road runs in a direction from east to west :
upon roads of that kind, if the south side is
bounded either by a very tall hedge, or a
hedge and row of trees, no pains or expense
that can be bestowed, will be sufficient to-
keep it in good order. The great deside-
ratum in road making is, that of forming the
road in such a manner as to raise it suf-
ficiently in the middle, and give it a gradual

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 499

slope to each side, to facilitate the descent of
the moisture, and afterwards exposing it so
completely to the action of the sun and air,
as to dry it in the speediest manner after every
shower.

It must be admitted, however, that in every
situation, hedge-rows of trees, where they
thrive, afford a degree of general shelter, and
greatly improve the scenery; but these ad-
vantages are trivial when compared to their
defects. The injury dpne every year both to
the fences and highways throughout the king-
dom, is apparent, and generally felt and com-
plained of, both by farmers and road con-
tractors.

>00 GEORGICAL ESSAYS,

ESSAY XXXV.

On the Size of Farms.

-L HE question respecting the size of farms
has been much agitated. Some have argued
that large farms are most favourable to popu-
lation, and to the complete and rapid cultiva-
tion of the soil ; whilst others have insisted
that small farms are best calculated to produce
these advantages. But as the arguments on
both sides appear to be equally conclusive, it
is presumable that both may be wrong. The
truth is, the actual diversity of land, in respect
of situation, quality, and state of improve-
ment, naturally points out the propriety of a
diversity in the size of farms. There is, no
doubt, a point on both sides beyond which
we ought not to go. No arable farm, perhaps,
ought to exceed 400, or at the utmost 500
acres : and none should fall below 60 or 70
acres. Between these two points, farms may
be of all different sizes, without prejudice to
the public, or to the individual, varying, how-
ever, in this respect, according to existing

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 501

circumstances. If the ground be all arable,
of a rich quality, and in a high state of cultiva-
tion, 60 or 70 acres may, in some cases, be
sufficient, and may enable the occupant to
rear his family, and to live in a decent,
respectable style. But if the land be in a
state of nature, or hath, as yet, received no
substantial improvements, this size would be,
by far, too small. No man of stock, enter-
prise, and ability, would sit down upon such
a farm. He could have no room for exertion,
no opportunity of a profitable application of
his talents, and no prospect of receiving ulti-
mately any returns corresponding to the capital
and skill which he is able to employ. Farms,
therefore, consisting of land of this kind,
ought to be much more extensive. Three or
four hundred acres might be sufficiently small.
In like manner, ground that is not only arable,
but, at the same time, best adapted to the
cultivation of grain, may be let in much
smaller proportions than would be proper in
cases where the land is either not arable, or
more applicable to the purposes of grazing
and rearing cattle.

Besides, we find that there is a great diver-
sity among men, in respect of abilities and
Volume VI. K k

502 GEORGICAL ESSAYS. I

I

circumstances: it seems proper, therefore, that <

the division and size of farms should be pro- ;

portioned, in a correspondence to this diver- '
sity. A man may be able to stock a farm

of 80 or 100 acres, but not one of 300 or 400. |

Or, in point of ability, he may be equal to the j

task of managing the former, and yet not j

qualified to conduct the more extensive and !

complicated operations of the latter. On the i

other hand, it would be hard to confine a man ,

of large stock, and superior abihties, to a I

small pofsefsion, where he can have no scope !

for his genius, and where he cannot employ i

half his capital. j

i

A mixture of large and small farms appears, ;

in another point of view, to be extremely ■

proper, as it may be the means of preventing ,

a dangerous diminution of active and expe- ;

rienced hands for carrying on the operations |

of husbandry. Every gentleman-farmer has ;

usually a foreman, to whom he commits the ;
management of his farm : and almost every

great farmer has one, either as a foreman or j
principal servant, on whose abilities and

fidelity he can trust for conducting the prac- '-

tical part of his businefs. If this foreman be '

married, as is often the case, the prospect of ;

CEORGICAL ESSAYS. 503

being able to secure a small farm for his son,
if he has one, and to stock it, by the savings
of his honest industry, will be a powerful in-
ducement to breed him a farmer. Nor will
this motive influence those merely who are
already engaged in the farming line. The
consideration of such a decent independence,
so easily accefsible, will induce others to
breed their children to husbandry, by putting
them into the service of the farmers ; whilst
the desire of attaining the object in view, as
speedily, and with as much advantage as
pofsiblc, will render such servants sober, in-
dustrious, and attentive to their duty.

Small farms thus pafsing into the hands of
those who have acquired skill and experience
on eixtensive farms under a proper system of
husbandry, will form excellent nurseries for
farm servants both to gentlemen and principal
farmers But should farms be generally of
such magnitude as to preclude every hope of
this kind, parents will seek independence for
theirchildren, by breeding them manufacturers,
tradesmen, or mechanics.

In short, cither extreme would be attended
with bad consequences. On the one hand,
5 Kk2

504- GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

.to mince down all the land in the kingdom
.into small tenements, whilst this could neither
increase population nor add to the strength
of the state, would, most probably, check the
progrefs of improvement, and prevent its be-
ing ever brought to any degree of perfection.
On the other hand, to throw the whole estates
of the kingdom into the .hands of .a few great
farmers, as it might be equally hurtful to the
progrefs of agriculture, would certainly be
highly impolitic, as it would weaken, in a
considerable degree, that support and security
which the constitution of the country, as well
as public order and tranquillity, derive from
the general diffusion of property. That amor
patn'ce, that public spirit, that strong sense of
•national honour, which, in former times, ani-
mated the breasts even of the lowest orders,
seem 'DOW to be, in a great measure, gone,
and nothing but the selfish principle remains,
by which the great body of the people can
be bound to their country and its support.

Let us suppose a large portion of this
island, usually in the pofsefsion- of husbandmen,
thrown into the hands of 8000 great farmers;
and each farmer to have one son who might
be depended upon, as having a joint interest

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 503

with his father; there would, in this case,
be only 16,000 of this clafs, whom we could
trust to join the landholders in the defence of
that part of the country : all the rest em-
ployed in husbandry being in a servile, de-
pendent state, no certain or effectual support
could be expected from them. Suppose again,
that instead of 8000, the same extensive por-
tion of land should be divided into 30,000
farms; in this case, we should have 60,000 men
of this description, who, though not equally
interested with those before mentioned, would,
neverthelefs, have such a stake, as would be
a sufficient inducement to oppose every at-
tempt against the peace and safety of the
kingdom, whether from foreign or domestic
foes.

Amongst the numerous causes which com-
bined to overthrow the French monarchy,
and to involve that nation in anarchy, des-
potism, and blood, this defect was, perhaps,
one of the principal and most avaiUng. All
were either extremely rich, or miserably poor.
In the hands of the higher orders, were all
the honours, wealth, and power of the nation ;
while dependence, servility, and abject poverty,
was the miserable portion of the lower, and

Kk3

506 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

by far the most numerous clafe. And if there?
were any intermediate gradations, the num-=
bers who occupied them were few ; and the
insecure and uncertain tenure by which they
held their property, must have rendered their
exertions feeble, even though they had been
disposed to take part with their government.
No wonder then, that men thus circumstanced,
men who had nothing to lose, and no hopes
of bettering their condition in the present
state of things, should have been so easily
deceived by the seeming patriotism of un-
principled demagogues, and so universally
have fallen in with a scheme which promised
them emancipation from poverty, dependence,
and degradation, and a more equal distribu-
tion of property and power. And if we con-
sider that turbulent and seditious temper,
which, some years past, discovered itself in
this country, and which required all the vi-
gilance and activity of government to keep in
check, it appears highly probable that, had it
not been for the weight thrown into the scale
of constitutional authority and power, by the
numerous, wealthy, and respectable clafses
which occupy the intermediate ranks between
the great landholders, and those who have
little or no property, revolutionary and anar*^

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 507

chial principles might have prevailed, and
this kingdom have experienced similar con-
vulsions, attended with consequences equally
disasterous and fatal.

ESSAY XXXVI.

On Leases,

1 HE ancient feudal tenures had undoubtedly
a strong tendency to enslave mankind, by
subjecting tenants to the control and power
of an arbitrary lord ; but, like all other things,
there were some advantages to be found in
the system. Every man, who held land, had
a certainty in it, as the tenant generally held
his pofsefsion for life. When these tenures
were discountenanced, by the liberal spirit of
modern law, some new compact became ne-
cefsary, and terms of years were substituted
in lieu of the former ; for as land, properly
managed, requires great expense, and seldom
answers that expense in one year, it was but
reasonable that the man who applied his

K k 4

508 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

judgment, devoted his labour, and ventured
his capital, should have some reasonable time
allowed him to reimburse himself, and derive
some proportionate reward for what he had
done.

In uhe course of time, this term began to
be reduced into a regular number of years.
As most of the land was formerly under the
regulation of two crops and a fallow, the
time allowed was from three to twenty-one
years, and the latter, in the end, became the
most general limitation, and is the most pre-
valent term for leases at this time.

That leases are the first, the greatest, and
most rational encouragement that can be
given to agriculture, admits not of a doubt,
in my opinion -, but, of late years, there are
very strong prejudices entertained against
them. In the county of Norfolk, it is the
custom to grant leases, which, in a great mea-
sure, accounts for the improvements that have
taken place in it ; most of the great estates
have been made from it : for, without leases,
no marlino", to anv extent, would have been
undertaken, nor so much ground brought into
cultivation, by one-third, as there now is.

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 309

The Holkham estate, alone, strongly proves
this afsertion, as it has been increased, in the
memory of man, from five to upwards oi
twenty thousand pounds a year, and is still
increasing like a snow-ball. Mr. Coke, the
present owner of it, is a real friend to agricul-
ture, and justly considered as one of the best
landlords in that county. From my particular
knovi'ledge of him, I can say, that at lea^ttWQ.
years before his leases expire, h^ piitSJlilSL.
tenant upgij^a fppting of certaintj^ by stating
to him, the terms he ex^^cJ.sj[Qrja_rene w^jaf 1
his lease, that he may have time to look out
for another farm, in case he does not like the
conditions that are offered to himj but, though
the advance of rent is often very great, I have
never seen an instance of any tenant leaving
him, unlefs grown too far in years to be able
to continue. The stipulations and reserva-
tions in his^ Jeases are founded, too,^upori
principles of equity and consist m nounne-
cefsary repetition^ or unreasonable exactions,
being couched in plain terms, such as ought
to compose a liberal contract between a gen-
tleman and an industrious tenant ; which
may be worth imitation in thofe who are
found of crowding their leases with over-
bearing compulsatory clauses, tending more

510 GEORGICAL ESSAYS

to create obedience and serviUty in their
tenants, than to promote good husbandry.

i There are some few estates, in Norfolk, of a
very considerable size, where leases are en-
tirely withheld ; but it is evident, that these
estates are obliged to be let for, at least,
twenty per cent, lefs than what they would
be, if leases were granted. In many other
counties the prejudice is so strong, that an
owner would almost as soon alienate the fee-
simple of his estate, as demise it for a term of
years. I will not be so harsh as to say, that
this dislike to leases arises from obstinacy or
want of sense, but it is certainly an unfor-
tunate prejudice, which the proprietor takes
up, and tends greatly to injure the public.
j One of the arguments made use of is, that it
(makes the tenant insolent and independent.
There may be some few instances of this sort,
but they ought not to be allowed to operate
to the general injury of a country, however
indifferent a gentleman may be to the ad-
vantage of his own purse. A man of large
landed property owes, in my opinion, some-
thing to society, and ought to get rid of his
prejudices, where they effect the community.
Providence, who put him in pofsefsion of his
property, undoubtedly meant that he should.

GEORGICAL ESSAYS, 511

in some sort, act as a public steward, and it
cannot be right that he should wrap up the
talent entrusted to his care in a napkin. It {
grieves me to go into a country, which I often
do, and find it almost in a state of nature, be- '
cause, the soil being wet and expensive to \
cultivate, the tenant cannot afFord to do it \
without encouragement, and the owner's in-'
surmountable objection to leases, keeps him
from granting the sort of encouragement
which is efsentially necefsary. The yeomanrv,
in such parts, are upon a wretched, miserable
footing ; the public sustains a vast lofs ; and
the owner has, in lieu of the comfort he might
bestow, and the good he might do, no other
consolation than that he has the county more
at command. But even this is a mistake ;
for I have, except in a few instances, always
found a tenant as obliging and well behaved
to his landlord, when he had a lease as when
he had not.

The arguments in favour of leases seem to
me so powerful, that I could not, on this oc-
casion, supprefs giving my full sentiments re-
lating to them ; and it seems unreasonable,
to the greatest degree, to expect a tenant to
hazard all he is worth, and devote the best

512 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

part of his life, upon an estate, which, upon
the death, or perhaps the mere caprice, of his
landlord, he is liable to be turned out of at
six months notice. I will not, however, deny,
that there may be some reasonable exceptions
against the practice I wish to recommend,
where lands lie near a gentleman's house,
part of which it may be an object to take into
hand ; or, if a minor be very near of age, or
if there be any immediate design of selling an
estate, it is not prudent to grant leases, be-
cause, in the latter case, a purchaser may wish
to enter into immediate pofsefsion, and may
have particular objects in view, which will
induce him to give a higher price than he
would, under the idea of purchasing merely
to pay him a reasonable interest. But, except
in these instances, leases, in my opinion, can-
Inot be too strongly recommended 5 for I am
{certain, that where estates are under an entail,
)or in a family that has no idea of parting with
, them, leasing is, unquestionably, the most
effectual means of raising their value, as the
^ owner, by this means, has it in his power to
j stipulate for improvements, in what manner
\ and proportion he pleases, which he cannot
i do by any other means so well.

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 513

ESSAY XXXVIL

On Instinct.

Instinct is a propensity, prior to experience,
and independent of instruction. AVe contend,
that it is by instinct that the sexes of animals
seek each other -, that animals cherish their
offspring ; that the young quadruped is di-
rected to the teat of its dam ; that birds build
their nests, and brood with so much patience
upon their eggs ; that insects which do not
sit upon their eggs, deposit them in those par-
ticular situations, in which the young, when
hatched, find their appropriate food 5 that it
is instinct, which carries the salmon, and some
other fish, out of the sea into rivers, for the
purpose of shedding their spawn in fresh
water.

We may select out of this catalogue the in-
cubation of eggs. I entertain no doubt, but
that a couple of sparrows hatched in an oven,
and kept separate from the rest of their spe-

514 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

cies, would proceed as other sparrows do, in
every office which related to the production
and preservation of their brood. Afsuming
this fact, the thing is inexplicable upon any
other hypothesis, than that of an instinct, im-
prefsed upon the constitution of the animal.
For, first, what should induce the female bird
to prepare a nest before she lays her eggs ? It
is in vain to suppose her to be pofsefsed of
the faculty of reasoning ; for no reasoning will
reach the case. The fullnefs or distension
which she might feel in a particular part of
her body, from the growth and solidity of the
egg within her, could not pofsibly inform her,
that she was about to produce something,
which, when produced, was to be preserved
and taken care of. Prior to experience, there
was nothing to lead to this inference, or to
this suspicion. The analogy was all against
it; for, in every other instance, what ifsued
from the body was cast out and rejected.

But, secondly, let us suppose the egg to be
produced into day: How should birds know
that their eggs contain their young ? there is
nothing either in the aspect, or in the internal
composition of an egg, which could lead even
the most daring imagination to a conjecture.

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 515

that it was hereafter to turn out, from under
its shell, a living perfect bird. Tlie form of
the egg bears not the rudiments of a resem-
blance to that of a bird. Inspecting its con-
tents, we find still lefs reason, if pofsible, to
look for the result which actually takes place.
If we should go so far, as, from the appear-
ance of order and distinction in the disposition
of the liquid substances which we noticed in
the egg, to guefs that it might be designed for
the abode and nutriment of an animal, (which
would be a very bold hypothesis,) we should
expect a tadpole dabbling in the slime, much
rather than a dry, winged, feathered creature ;
a compound o( parts and properties impofsible
to be used in a state of confinement in the eo-o-,
and bearing no conceivable relation, either iii
quality or material, to any thing observed in
it. From the white of an egg, would any
one look for the feather of a goldfinch .? or
expect from a simple uniform mucilage, the
most complicated of all machines, the most
diversified of all collections of substances ?
Nor would the procefs of incubation, for
some time at least, lead us to suspect the
event. Who that saw red streaks, shooting
in the fine membrane which divides the white
from the yolk, would suppose that these were

516 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

about to become bones and limbs? who that
espied two discoloured points first making
their appearance in the cicatrix, ^YOuld have
had the courage to predict, that these points
were to grow into the heart and head of a
bird ? it is difficult to strip the mind of its
experience. It is difficult to resuscitate sur-
prise, when familiarity has once laid the sen-
timent asleep. But could we forget all that
we know, and which our sparrows never knew,
about oviparous generation ; could we divest
ourselves of every information, but what we
derived from reasoning upon the appearances
or quality discovered in the objects presented
to us, I am convinced that harlequin coming
out of an egg upon the stage, is not more
astonishing to a child, than the hatching of a
chicken both would be, and ought to be, to a
philosopher.

But admit the sparrow by some means to
know, that within that egg was concealed the
principle of a future bird, from what chymist
was she to learn, that W'armth was necefsary
to bring it to maturity, or that the degree of
warmth, imparted by the temperature of her
own body, was the degree required ?

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 517

To suppose, therefore, that the female bird
acts in this procefs from a sagacity and reason
of her own, is to suppose her to arrive at con-
clusions, which there are no premises to jus-
tify. If our sparrow, sitting^ upon her eggs,
expect young sparrows to come out of them,
she forms, I will venture to say, a wild and
extravagant expectation, in opposition to pre-
sent appearances, and to probability. She
must have penetrated into the order of nature,
further than any faculties of ours will carry
us: and it hath been well observed, that this
deep sagacity, if it be sagacity, subsists in con-
junction with great stupidity, even hi relation
to the same subject. " A chymical operation,"
says Addison, " could not be followed with
greater art or diligence, than is seen in hatch-
ing a chicken : yet is the procefs carried on
without the least glinnnering of thought or
common sense. The hen will mistake a
piece of chalk for an €g^ ; is insensible of
the increase or diminution of their number ;
does not distinguish between her own, and
those of another species ; is frightened when
her supposititious breed of dutklingstake the
water."

But it will be said^ that what reason could
Volume VI. L 1

518 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

not do for the bird, observation, instruction,
or tradition might. Now if it be true, that a
couple of sparrows brought up from the first
in a state of separation from all other birds,
•would build their nest, and brood upon their
eggs, then there is an end of this solution.
What can be the traditionary knowledge of a
chicken hatched in an oven.

Of young birds taken in their nests, a few
species breed, when kept in cages; and they
which do so, build their nests nearly in the
same manner as in the wild state, and sit upon
their eggs. This is sufficient to prove an in-
stinct, without having recourse to experiments
upon birds, hatched by artificial heat, and de-
prived, from their birth, of all communication
with their species : for we can hardly bring
ourselves to believe, that the parent bird in-
formed her unfledged pupil of the history of
her gestation, her tim.ely preparation of a nest,
her exclusion of the eggs, her long incubation,
and of the joyful eruption at last of her ex-
pected offspring ; all which the bird in the
case must have learnt in her infancv, if we
resolve her conduct into institution.

Unlefs we will rather suppose that she re-

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 519

members her own escape from the egg ; had
attentively observed the conformation of the
nest in which she was nurtured ; and had trea-
sured up her remarks for future imitation.
Which is not only extremely improbable, (for
who that sees a brood of callow birds in their
nest, can believe that they are taking apian of
their habitation ?) but leaves unaccounted for,
one principal part of the difficulty, " the pre-
paration of the nest before the laying of the
Ggg.'' This she could not gain from observa-
tion in her infancy.

It is remarkable also, that the hen sits upon
eggs, which she has laid without any commu-
nication with the male ; and which are there-
fore necefsarily unfruitful. That secret she is
not let into. Yet, if incubation had been a
subject of instruction or of tradition, it should
seem that this distinction v»ould have formed
part of the lefson : whereas the instinct of na-
ture is calculated for a state of nature ; the ex-
ception, here alluded to, taking place, chiefly,
if not solely, amongst domesticated fowls, in
which nature is forced out of her course.

There is another case of oviparous econo-
my, which is still lefs likely to be the effect of

L 1 2

520 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

education, that it is even in birds, namely,
that of moths and butterflies, which deposit
their eggs in the precise substance, that of a
cabbage for example, from which, not the
butterfly herself, but the caterpillar which is
to ifsue from her egg, draws its appropriate
food. The butterfly cannot taste the cabbage.
Cabbage is no food for her : yet in the cab-
bage, not by chance, but studiously and elec-
tively, she lays her eg^. There are amongst
many other kinds, the willow caterpillar, and
the cabbage caterpillar ; but we never find
upon a willow, the caterpillar which eats the
cabbage ; nor the converse. This choice, as
appears to m,e, cannot in the butterfly pro-
ceed from instruction. She had no teacher in
her caterpillar state. She never knew her
parent. I do not see, therefore, how know-
ledge acquired by experience, if it ever were
such, could be transmitted from one genera^
tion to another. There is no opportunity
either for instruction or imitation. The parent
race is gone before the new brood is hatched.
And if it be original reasoning in the butterfly,
it is profound reasoning indeed. She must
remember her caterpillar state, its tastes and
habits; of which memory she shows no signs
whatever. She must conclude from analogy,

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 521

for here her recollection cannot serve her, that
the little round body, which drops from her
abdomen, will at a future period produce a
Jiving creature, not like herself, but like the
caterpillar which she remembers herself once
to have been. Under the influence of these
reflections she goes about to make provision
for an order of things, which, she concludes,
will, s;ome time or other, take place. And it
is to be observed, that not a few out of many,
but that all butterflies argue thus ^ all draw
this conclusion ; all act upon it.

But suppose the addrefs, and the selection,
and the plan, which we perceive in the prepa-
rations which many irrational animals make
for their young, to be traced to some probable
origin; still there is left to be accounted for,
that which is the source and foundation of
these phasnomena, that which sets the whole
at work, the aTO[>yn parental affection, which I
contend to be inexplicable upon any other
hypothesis than that of instinct.

For we shall hardly, I imagine, in brutes,
refer their conduct towards their offspring to
a sense of duty, or of decency, a care of repu-
tation, a complinnce of public manners,
4 L 1 3

522 GE0B.G1CAL ESSAYS.

with public laws, or with rules of life built
upon a long experience of their utility. And
all attempts to account for the parental affec-
tion from afsociation, I think fail. AVith
what is it afsociated ? Most immediately with
the throes of parturition, that is, with pain and
terror, and disease. The more remote, but
not lefs strong afsociation, that which depends
upon analogy, is all against it. Every thing
else, which proceeds from the body, is cast
away and rejected.

In birds, is it the egg which the hen loves ?
or is it the expectation which she cherishes
of a future progeny, that keeps her upon her
nest ? What cause has she to expect delight
from her progeny ? Can any rational answer
be given to the question, w^hy, prior to expe-
rience, the brooding hen should look Jor plea-
sure from her chickens ? It does not, I think,
appear, that the cuckoo ever knows her
young : yet, in her way, she is as careful in
making provision for them, as any other bird.
She does not leave her eg^ in every hole.

The salmon suffers no surmountable ob-
stacle :o oppose her progrefs up the stream of
fresh rivers. And what does she do there ?

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 523

She sheds a spawn, which she immediately
quits, in order to return to the sea; and this
ifsue of her body she never afterwards recog-
nizes in any shape whatever. Where shall we
find a motive for her efforts, and her perse-
verance ? Shall we seek it in argumentation,
or in instinct? The violet crab of Jamaica
performs a fatiguing march, of some months
continuance, from the mountains to the sea-
side. When she reaches the coast, she casts
her spawn into the open sea ; and sets out
upon her return home.

Moths and butterflies, as hath already been
observed, seek out for their eggs, those pre-
cise situations and substances, in which the
offspring caterpillar will find its appropriate
food. That dear caterpillar the parent butter-
fly must never see. There are no experiments
to prove that she would retain any knowledge
of it, if she did. How shall we account for
her conduct? I do not mean for her art and
judgment in selecting and securing a mainte-
nance for her young, but for the impulse upon
which she acts. What should induce her to
exert any art, or judgment, or choice, about
the matter ? The undisclosed grub, the ani-
mal, which she is destined not to know, can
4 LI 4

524 GEORCICAL ESSAYS.

hardly be the object of a particular affection,
it we deny the influence ot instinct. There is
nothing, therefore, left to her, but that, of
V. hich her nature seems incapable, an abstract
anxiety for the general preservation of the spe-
cies ; a kind of patriotism j a solicitude lest
the butterfly race should cease from the
creation.

Lastly; tlie principle of afsociation will not
explain the discontinuance of the affection
when the young animal is grown up. Afso-
ciation, operating in its usual way, would
rather produce a contrary effect. The object
would become more necefsary by habits of
society : whereas birds and beasts, after a cer-
tain time, banish their offspring; disown their
acquaintance; seem to have even no know-
ledge of the objects which so lately engrofsed
the attention of their minds, and occupied the
industry and labour of their bodies. This
change, in different animals, takes place at
different distances of time from the birth ; but
the time always corresponds with the ability
of the young animal to maintain itself; never
anticipates it. In the sparrow tribe, when it
is perceived that the young brood can fly and
shift for themselves, then the parents forsake

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 525

them for ever ; and, though they continue to
live together, pay them no more attention
than they do to other birds in the same flock*.
I believe the same thing is true of all grega-
rious quadrupeds.

In this part of the case the variety of re-
sources, expedients, and materials, which ani-
mals of the same species arc said to have re-
course to, under aifferent circumstances, and
when differently supplied, makes nothing
against the doctrine of instincts. The thing
which we want to account for is the propen-
sity. The propensity being there, it is pro-
bable enough that it may put the animal upon
different actions according to different exi-
gences. And this adaptation of resources
may look like the effect of art and considera-
tion, rather than of instinct ; but still the pro-
pensity is instinctive. For instance, suppose
what is related of the woodpecker to be true,
that, in Europe, she deposits her eggs in ca-
vities, which she scoops out in the trunks of
soft or decayed trees, and in which cavities
the eggs lie concealed from the eye, and in

* Goldsmith's Nat. Hist. vol. iv. p. 2+4-.

626 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

some sort safe from the hand of man ; but
that, in the forests of Guinea and the Brasils,
which man seldom frequents, the same bird
hangs her nest to the twigs of tall trees ;
thereby placing them out of the reach of mon-
keys and snakes, i. e. that in each situation
she prepares against the danger which she has
most occasion to apprehend : suppose, I say,
this to be true, and to be alleged, on the
part of the bird that builds these nests, as evi-
dence of a reasoning and distinguishing pre-
caution, still the question returns, whence the
propensity to build at all ?

Nor does parental affection accompany ge-
neration by any universal law of animal or-
ganization, if such a thing were intelligible.
Some animals cherish their progeny with the
most ardent fondnefs, and the most afsiduous
attention ; others entirely neglect them : and
this distinction always meets the cor.stitution
of the young animal, with respect to its wants
and capacities. In many, the parental care
extends to the young animal ; in others, as in
all oviparous fish, it is confined to the egg,
and even, as to that, to the disposal of it in
its proper element. Also, as there is genera-
tion without parental afiection, so is there

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 527

parental instinct, or what exactly resembles it,
without generation. In the bee tribe, the
o-rub is nurtured neither bv the father nor the
mother, but by the neutral bee. Probably
the case is the same with ants.

I am not ignorant of the theory, which re-
solves instinct into sensation ; which afserts,
that what appears to have a view and rela-
tion to the future, is the result only of the
present disposition of the animal's body, and
of pleasure or pain experienced at the time.
Thus the incubation of eggs is accounted for
by the pleasure which the bird is supposed
to receive from the prefsure of the smooth
convex surface of the shells against the abdo-
men, or by the relief which the mild temper-
ature of the egg may afford to the heat of the
lower part of the body, which is observed at
this time to be increased beyond its usual
stat^. This present gratification is the only
motive with the hen for sitting upon her nest:
the hatching of the chickens is, with respect
to her, an accidental consequence. The af-
fection of viviparous animals for their young,
is in like manner solved by the relief, and per-
haps the pleasure, which they perceive from
giving suck. The young animal's seeking.

£28 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

in so many instances, the teat of its dam, is
explained from the sense of smell, which is
attracted bv the odour of the milk. The sal-
mon's urging its way up the stream of fresh
w^ater rivers, is attributed to some gratifica-
tion or refreshment, which, in this particular
state of the fish's bodv, she receives from the
change of element. Now of this theory it
may be said t

First, that of the cases which require solu-
tion, there are few, to which it can be applied
with tolerable probability ; — that there are
none, to which it can be applied without
strong objections, furnished by the circum-
stances of the case. The attention of the cow
to its calf, and of the ewe to its lamb, ap-
pear to be prior to their sucking. The at-
traction of the calf or. lamb to the teat cf the
dam is not explained by simply referring it to
the sense of smell. What made the scent of
the milk so agreeable to the lamb that it
should follow it up with its nose, or seek with
its mouth the place from which it proceeded?
No observation, no experience, no argument
could teach the new' dropped animal, that
the substance, from which the scent ifsued,
was the material of its food. It had never

OEORGICAL ESSAYS. 529

tasted milk before its birth. None of the
animals, which are not designed for that
nourishment, ever offer to suck, or to seek out
any such food. What is the conclusion, but
that the sugescent parts of animals are fitted
for their use, and the knowledge of that use
put into them ?

We afbcrt, secondly, that, even as to the
cases in which the hypothesis has the fairest
claim to consideration, it does not at all lefsen
the force of the argument for intention and
design. The doctrine of instincts, is that of
• appetencies, superadded to the constitution of
an animal, for the effectuating of a purpose
beneficial to the species. The above stated
solution would derive these appetencies from
organization ; but then this organization is not
lefs specifically, not lefs precisely, and there-
fore not lefs evidently adapted to the same
ends, than the appetencies themselves would
be upon the old hypothesis. In this way of
considering the subject, sensation supplies the
place of foresight : but this is the efiect of
contrivance on the part of the Creator. Let
it be allowed, for example, that the hen is in-
duced to brood upon her eggs by the enjoy-
pient or relief, which, in the heated state of

530 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

her abdomen, she experiences from the pres-
sure of round smooth surfaces, or from the ap-
pHcation of a temperate warmth. How-
comes this extraordinary heat or itching, or
call it what you will, which you suppose to be
the cause of the bird's inclination, to be felt,
just at the time when the inclination itself is
wanted ; when it tallies so exactly with the
internal constitution of the e^g^ and with
the help which that constitution requires in
order to bring it to maturity ? In my opinion,
this solution, if it be accepted as to the fact,
ought to increase, rather than otherwise, our
admiration of the contrivance. A gardener
lighting up his stoves, just when he wants to
force his fruit, and when his trees require the
heat, gives not a more certain evidence of de-
sijrn. So a^ain ; when a male and female
sparrow come together, they do not meet to
confer upon the expediency of perpetuating
their species. As an abstract proposition,
they care not the value of a barley-corn whe-
ther the species be perpetuated, or not. They
follow their sensations; and all those conse-
quences ensue, which the wisest counsels
could have dictated, which the most solicitous
care of futurity, which the most anxious con-
cern for the sparrow world, could have pro-

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 531

duced. But how do these consequences en-
sue ? The sensations, and the constitution up-
on which they depend, are as manifestly di-
rected to the purpose which we see fulfilled
by them ; and the train of intermediate ef-
fects, as manifestly laid and planned with a
view to that purpose, that is to say, design is
as completely evinced by the pha^nomena, as
it would be, even if we suppose the operations
to begin, or to be carried on, from what
some will allow to be alone properly called
instincts, that is, from desires directed to a
future end, and having no accomplishment
or gratification distinct from the attainment
of that end.

In a word ; I should say to the patrons
of this opinion, be it so : be it, that those
actions of animals which we refer to instinct,
are not gone about with any view to their
consequences, but that they are attended in
the animal with a present gratification, and
are pursued for the sake of that gratifica-
tion alone ; what does all this prove, but
that the prospection, which must be some-
where, is not in the animal, but in the Cre-
ator ?

532 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

In treating of the parental affection in
brutes, our businefs lies rather with the origin
of the principle, than with the effects and
exprefsions of it. Writers recount these with
pleasure and admiration. The conduct of
many kinds of animals towards their young,
has escaped no observer, no historian, of
nature. " How will they carefs them," says
Derham, " with their affectionate notes; lull
and quiet them with their tender parental
voice; put food into their mouths; cherish,
and keep them warm ; teach them to pick,
and eat, and gather food for themselves ; and,
in a word, perform the part of so many nurses,
deputed by the sovereign Lord and preserver
of the world, to help such young and shiftlefs
creatures?" Neither ought it, under this head,
to be forgotten, how much the instinct costs
the animal which feels it; how much a bird,
for example, gives up, by sitting upon her nest;
how repugnant it is to her organization, her
habits, and her pleasures. An animal, formed
for liberty, submits to confinement, in the very
season when everything invites her abroad:
what is more ; an animal delighting in motion,
made for motion, all whose motions are so
easy and so free, hardly a moment, at other

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 533

times, at rest, is, for many hours of many days
together, fixed to her nest, as close as if her
limbs were tied down by pins and wires. For
my part, I never see a bird in that situation,
but 1 recognise an invisible hand, detaining
the contented prisoner from her fields and
groves, for a purpose, as the event proves, the
most -worthy of the sacrifice, the most im-
portant, the most beneficial.

But the lofs of liberty is not the whole of
what the procreant bird suffers. Harvey tells
us, that he has often found the female wasted
to skin and bone by sitting upon her eggs.

One observation more. The pairing of
birds, and the non-pairing of beasts forms a
distinction between the two clafses, which
shows, that the conjugal instinct is modified
with a reference to utility founded in the con-
dition of the offspring. In quadrupeds, the
young animal draws its nutriment from the
body of the dam. The male parent neither
does, nor can, contribute any part to its sus-
tentation. In the feathered race, the young
bird is supplied by an importation of food, to
procure and bring home which, in a suffi-
cient quantity for the demand of a numerous

Volume VL M m

554 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

brood, requires the industry of both parents.
In this difference we see a reason, for the
vagrant instinct of the quadruped, and for the
faithful love of the feathered mate.

ESSAY XXXVIII.

On the Rationale of Mowing and Pasturage.

XSroad clover, and many other succulent
plants, are with some difficulty made into hay -,
and, in all probability, may be consumed
much more profitably as a green than as a
dry fodder ; because, as soon as they are cut,
the plants quickly vegetate afresh during the
summer-season ; and, by being repeatedly cut,
produce a much greater weight of forage
than if they had been allowed to bring their
seeds to maturity. For it is observable of
almost all these succulent plants, that they
push out very vigorous shoots soon after they
are cut» which advance with great rapidity
until the plant hath attained nearly its full
stature ; after which period it advances more
slowly, till it at length becomes entire!/

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 535

stationary, and is solely employed about the
formation of its seeds. Now, if the plant be
always cut when it approaches towards that
stationary state, it will be always kept in the
state of vigorous vegetation ; and thus it
would seem that a much greater quantity of
vegetable matter would be produced, than if
it were allowed to arrive at greater maturity
before each cutting.

This is still more apparent with regard to
lucern than broad clover. This plant, if
allowed to come to its full size, will, in a good
soil, attain the height of four feet, or a little
more, in one season. But I myself have cut a
plant of lucern six times in one season, allow-
ing it to be about twenty inches high before
each cutting ; which gives upwards of ten
feet for the growth of one year ; — considerably
more than double the height that it would
have reached if it had not been cut at all.
And although it be acknowledged, that the
more succulent shoots, obtained in conse-
quence of frequent cutting, would not con-
tain such a quantity of solid matter as an
equil weight of the better maturated stalks
would have done ; yet it does not seem at all
probable, that the deficiency arising from this

Tvl m 2

536 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

cause would nearlv counterbalance the sur-
plus quantity obtained by frequent cutting,
Besides, the number of stalks is augmented
by cutting, so that it not only advances more
in length, but in thicknefs also. This is an
object, among many others, that cannot be
determined exactly without accurate expe-
riments.

On the other hand, it would seem probable,
that some of the culmiferous plants or grafses
(gramma) properly so called, being lefs capa-
ble of recovering themselves after being cut,
when the stalks have been allowed to advance
to any considerable length, (as is evidently
the case with regard to common rye-grafs)
\Loliinn Pereniie] would afford but poor re-
turns if cut green, although they may yield a
very weighty crop of hay if suffered to attain
a proper degree of maturity. But however
great the probability is that this may be the
case, still it is no more than a probability.
Nor can the farmer hope to arrive at certainty
in this case, till he knows, by accurate experi-
ment, not only the exact qualities of each of
these plants when green or dry, but also the
quantity of each that can be produced upon
the same soil with equally skilful manage-
ment.

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 637

Some plants that may be equally nourisli-
ing to animals, and that equally require to be
consumed green, may neverthelefs differ in
this respect, that one clafs may be more eco-
nomically consumed by having the plants
cut, and given by hand in that state to the
animals that feed upon them, while another
clafs may be more profitably consumed by
being depastured by animals.

It will be in general allowed, that the
two plants mentioned above, broad clover and
lucern, are more advantageously consumed
when cut and given green by the hand,
than when pastured upon. Probably this
may likewise be, in some measure, the case
with all quick-shooting strong-stemmed
plants, that do not grow close enough at the
root to form a firm bottom for animals to bite
upon. It is likewise probable, that, in general,
such close-growing leafy grafses as require to
be consumed green, and other weak succu-
lent trailing plants, which run along the
ground, and form a thick sward there, but do
not rise quickly to a great height, so as to
admit of being readily cut by the scythe,
would be more profitable for pasturage. But
here again, we are in the region of probal

M m 3

538 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

bility; nor do we as yet know, with any de-
gree of certainty, either the different plants
reducible to each of these clafses, or the se-
veral limitations that in particular circum-
stances might take place with regard to any
of these.

On this subject it may not be improper to
take notice of a circumstance that ought not
by any means to be overlooked by those who
are obliged to supply the want of accurate
experiments, by probable reasoning from de-
tached facts that accidentally occur. It is
this: by accurate observations, any one may
soon be satisfied, that if the flower-stalks of
the greater part of culmiferous grafses are de-
stroyed after they are fully formed, the plants
do not attempt to form other flower-stalks
that season, but run afterwards chiefly to
leaves, and spread by their roots. Now, if in
this state these plants are allowed to remain
for any considerable length of time, without
being either pastured upon or cut, the leaves
gradually stop from growing, — remain after
that for some time stationary, and then fade
away, if they are not so luxuriant as to rot ;
and in this way, the wliole produce of a
fleldmay frequently amount to no more than a

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 539

few inches in length in a season. But if these
leaves had been cut, or had the field at dif-
ferent times been pastured upon, the vegeta-
tion would at each time have been renewed,
and it would have produced perhaps five or
six times more than if this repeated cropping
had been omitted.

This I once had an opportunity of being satis-
fied of experimental!y,with regard to two plants
of sheep's {escuG-grsik [Festuca Ovina]^ which
grew upon the same soil, and were in equal
health, and in every other respect alike when
the experiment was tried. The leaves of each
of these two plants, before the end of May,
or beginning of June, had advanced to about
six inches in length, and after that remained
cjuite stationary for some weeks: — Observing
which, I cut off, with a sharp knife, all the
leaves of one of the plants quite close by the
ground; and in a very few days it pushed out
a set of fresh leaves with great vigour. These
were cut three or four several times during
the remaining part of the season, when about
the height of three inches at each time; al-
though it was not pofsible to remark the
smallest increase of one blade upon the other
plant during all that time.

-1- M m 4

540 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

From this experiment, it would seem that
we might fairly draw the following obvious
corollar}', viz. That if grafs, in these circum-
stances, is to be consumed either by pasturing
or cutting, it is the greatest want of economy
to allow it to remain long between each of
these operations ; and if we mean to reap the
full profit from the field, the oftener these
cuttings are repeated, after the grafs is of a
sufficient length for a bite to the animals
which may pasture upon it, or for the scythe
to strike it, so much the better.

From this experiment, we may farther infer,
that it will be in general perhaps more for the
advantage of the farmer, to consume grafses
of this sort by pasturage than by cutting ; for,
as these grafses are always much closer at
the roots than the top, when we attempt to cut
them by the scythe, unlefs the field is as
smooth as a bowling-green, a great deal of
the closest of the pile will escape the edge of
the scythe and be lost. And if these cut-
tings are frequently repeated, the proportion
that this under-stubble will bear to that which
is above the scythe, must be at each cutting
very considerable. And as the stems, when
cut, do not for the most part continue to ad-

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 541

vance afterwards, but die, and are succeeded
by fresh shoots that spring up from the roots,
all of these stubbles are entirely lost ; which,
in these circumstances, might perhaps amount
nearly to one-half of the whole produce of the
field i a great part of which would, perhaps,
have been saved, if the field had been judi-
ciously pastured upon. But if it can be
kept firm on the surface, and smooth as a
bowling-green, so as to suffer the scythe to
cut close, perhaps more benefit would be de-
rived from cutting than pasturage, as no parts
of the field could escape the scythe, though it
is well known that no art can make animals
eat down the grafs of a field quite equally, if
it be not greatly overstocked.

542 GEORGICAL ESSAYS

ESSAY XXXIX.

On a submarine Forest, on the east coast of England.

In geology, more perhaps than in any
other branch of natural history, there exists a
necefsity of strictly separating the facts ob-
served from the ideas which, in order to ex-
plain them, may occur to the mind of the ob-
sen^er. In the present state of this science,
every well ascertained fact increases our still
narrow stock of real knowledge j when, on
the contrary, the reasonings we arc enabled to
make, are at best but ingenious guefses,
which too often bias and mislead the judg-
ment. I shall therefore endeavour, in this
Efsay, to give first a mere description of the
object, unmixed with any systematical ideas,
and shall afterwards offer such conjectures on
its cause as seem to me to be fairly grounded
on observation.

It was a common report in Lincolnshire,
that a large extent of islets of moor, situated
along its coast, and visible only in the lowest

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 543

ebbs of the year, was chiefly composed of de-
cayed trees. These islets are marked in
Mitchell's chart of that coast, by the name of
claij huts; and the village of Huttoft, opposite
to which they principally lie, seems to have
derived its name trom them. In the month
of September, 1796, 1 went to Sutton, on the
coast of Lincolnshire, in company with the
Right Hon. Sir Joseph Banks, in order to ex-
amine their extent and nature. The 19th of
the month, being the first day after the equi-
noctial full moon, when the lowest ebbs were
to be expected, we went in a boat, at half
past twelve at noon, and soon after set foot
upon one of the largest islets then appearing.
Its exposed surface was about thirty yards
long, and twenty-five wide, when the tide was
at the lowest. A great number of similar
islets were visible round us, chiefly to the
eastward and southward; and the fishermen,
whose authority on this point is very compe-
tent, say, that similar moors are to be found
along the whole coast, from Skegncfs to
Grimsby, particularly oflf Addlethorpe and
Mablethorpe. The channels dividing the islets
were, at the time we saw them, wide, and of
various depths i the islets themselves ranging
generally from east to west in their largest
dimension.

544 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

We visited them again in the ebbs of the
20th and 21stj and though it generally did
not ebb so far as we expected, we could not-
withstanding ascertain, that they consisted al-
most entirely of roots, trunks, branches, and
leaves of trees and shrubs, intermixed with
some leaves of aquatic plants. The remains
of some of these trees were still standing on
their roots; while the trunks of the greater
part lay scattered on the ground, in every
pofsible direction. The bark of the trees
and roots appeared generally as fresh as when
they were growing; in that of the birches par-
ticularly, of which a great quantity was found,
even the thin silvery membranes of the outer
skin were discernible. The timber of all
kinds, on the contrary, was decomposed and
soft, in the greatest part of the trees , in some,
however, it was firm, especially in the knots.
The people of the country have often found
among them very sound pieces of timber, fit
to be employed for several economical pur-
poses.

The sorts of wood which are still distin-
guishable are birch, fir, and oak. Other
woods evidently exist in these islets, of some
of which we found the leaves in the soil; but

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 545

our present knowledge of the comparative
anatomy of timbers, is not so far advanced as
to afford us the means of pronouncing with
confidence respecting their species. In ge-
neral, the trunks, branches, and roots of the
decayed trees, were considerably flattened j
which is a phenomenon observed in the Sur-
tai'brand or fofsil wood of Iceland, and which
Scheuchzer remarked also in the fofsil wood
found in the neighbourhood of the lake of
Thun, in Switzerland.

The soil to which the trees are affixed, and
in which they grew, is a soft greasy clay j but,
for many inches above its surface, the soil is
entirely composed of rotten leaves, scarcely
distinguishable to the eye, many of which may
be separated, by putting the soil in water, and
dexterously and patienily using a spatula, or
a blunt knife. By this method, 1 obtained
some perfect leaves of Ilex Aquifolium^ which
are now in the Herbarium of the Right Hon.
Sir Joseph Banks ; and some other leaves
which, though lefs perfect, seem to belong to
some species of willow. In this stratum of
rotten leaves, we could also distinguish several
roots of Arundo Fhragmites.

546 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

These islets, according to the most accurate
information, extend at least twelve miles in
length, and about a mile in breadth, opposite
to Sutton shore. The water without them,
towards the sea, generally deepens suddenly,
so as to form a steep bank. The channels be-
tween the several islets, when the islets are
dry, in the lowest ebbs of the year, are from
four to twelve feet deeps their bottoms are
clay or sand, and their direction is generally
from east to west.

A well dug at Sutton, by Joshua Searby,
shows that a moor of the same nature is found
under ground, in that part of the country, at
the depth of sixteen feet i consequently, very
nearly on the same level with that which con-
stitutes the islets. The disposition of the
strata was found to be as follows:

Clay, 16 feet.

Moor, similar to that of the islet?, from 3 to 4 ditto.
Soft rooor, like the scowering? of a

ditch bottom, mixed with

shells and silt, 20 dYlto.

Marly clay, 1 foot.

Chalk rock, from 1 to 2 feet.

Clay, 31 yards.

Gravel and water ; the water has a chalybeate taste.

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 547

In order to ascertain the course of this sub-
terraneous stratum of decayed vegetables. Sir
Joseph Banks directed a boring to be made
in the fields belonging to the Royal Society,
in the parish of Mablethorpe. Moor, of a
similar nature to that of Searby's well, and of
the islets, was found, very nearly on the same
level, about four feet thick, and under it a
soft clay.

The whole appearance of the rotten vege-
tables we observed, perfectly resembles, ac-
cording to the remark of Sir Joseph Banks,
the moor which, in Blankeney fen, and in
other parts of the East fen in Lincolnshire, is
thrown up in the making of banks ; barks,
like those of the birch tree, being there also
abundantly found, lliis moor extends over
all the Lincolnshire fens, and has been traced
as far as Peterborough, more than sixty miles
to the south of Sutton. On the north-side,
the moory islets, according to the fishermen,
extend as far as Grimsby, situated on the
south-side of the mouth of the Ilumber ; and
it is a remarkable circumstance, that in the
large tracts of low lands which lie on the
south banks of that river, a Uttle above its
mouth, there is a subterraneous stratum of de-

548 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

c^yed trees and shrubs, exactly like those we
observed at Sutton ; particularly at Axholme
isle, a tract of ten miles in length, by five in
breadth ; and at Hatfield Chase, which com-
prehends one hundred and eighty thousand
acres. Dugdale* had long ago made this
observation, in the first of these places ; and
De la Pry me f in the second. The roots are
there likewise standing in the places where
they grew ; the trunks lie prostrate. The
woods are of the same species as at Sutton.
Roots of aquatic plants and reeds are likewise
mixed with them ; and they are covered by
a stratum of some yards of soil, the thicknefs
of which, though not ascertained with exact-
nefs by the above-mentioned observers, we
may easily conceive to correspond with that
which covers the stratum of decayed wood at
Sutton, by the circumstance of the roots being
(according to Mr. Richardson's observations J)
only visible when the water is low, where a
channel was cut, which has left them unco-
vered .

• History of Embanking and Draining. Chap, xxvii.
t Philos. Trans. Vol XXII. p. 980.
t Pbilos. Trans. Vol. XIX. p. 528.

georgiCal essays. 549

Little doubt can be entertained of the
moory islets of Sutton being a part of this ex-
tensive subterraneous stratum, which, by some
inroad of the sea, has been there stripped of
its covering of soil. The identity of the
levels ; that of the species of trees j the roots
of these affixed, in both, to the soil where they
grew : and, above all, the flattened shape of
the trunks, branches, and roots, found in the
islets, (which can only be accounted for by
the heavy pressure of a superinduced stratum,)
are sufficient reasons for this opinion.

Such a wide spread afsemblage of vege-
table ruins, lying almost in the same level,
and that level generally under the common
mark of low water, must naturally strike the
observer, and give birth to the following
questions.

1. What is the epoch of this destruction ?

2. By what agency was it effected ?

In answer to these questions, I will ven-
ture to submit the following reflections.

The fofsil remains of vegetables hitherto
Volume FT. N n

550 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

dug up in so many parts of the globe, are,
on a close inspection, lound to belong to two
very different states of our planet. The parts
of vegetables, and their imprefsions, found in
mountains of a cetaceous, schistous, or even
sometitnes of a calcareous nature, are chiefly
of plants now existing between the tropics,
which could neither have grown in the la-
titudes in which they are dug up^ nor have
been carrried and deposited there by any of
the acting forces under the present constitu-
tion of nature. The formation, indeed, of
the very mountains in which they are buried,
and the nature and disposition of the ma-
terials which compose them, are such as we
cannot account for by any of the actions and
re-actions which, in the actual state of things,
take place on the surface of the earth. We
must necefsarily recur to that period in the
history of our planet, when the surface of the
ocean was at least so much above its present
level, as to cover even the summits of these
secondary mountains which contain the re-
mains of tropical plants. The changes which
these vegetables have suffered in their sub-
stance, is almost total ; they commonly re-
tain only the external configuration of what
they originally were. Such is the state in

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 551

which they have been found in England, by
LIvvyd ; in France, by Juisieu j in the Ne-
therlands, by Burtin ; not to mention in-
stances in more distant countries. Some of
the imprefsions or remains of plants found in
soils of this nature, which were, by more an-
cient and lefs enlightened oryctologists, sup-
posed to belong to plants actually growing in
temperate and cold climates, seem, on ac-
curate investigation, to have been parts of
exotic vegetables. In fact, whether we sup-
pose them to have grown near the spot where
they are found, or to have been carried thither
from different parts, by the force of an im-
pelling flood, it is equally difficult to conceive,
how organized beings, which, in order to live,
require such a vast difference in temperature
and in seasons, could live on the same spot,
or how their remains could (from climates so
widely distant) be brought together to the
same place, by one common dislocating cause.
To this ancient order of fofsil vegetables be-
long whatever retains a vegetable shape, found
in or near coal mines, and (to judge from the
places v^here they have been found) the greater
part of the agatized woods. But from the
species and present state of the trees which
are the subject of this memoir, and from the

N n 2

552 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

situation and nature of the soil in which they
are found, it seems very clear that they do
not belong to this primeval order of vegetable
ruins.

The second order of fofsil vegetables, com-
prehends those which are found in strata of clay
or sand ; materials which are the result of slow
depositions of the sea or of rivers, agents still
at work under the present constitution of our
planet. These vegetable remains are found
in such flat countries as may be considered to
be of a new formation. Their vegetable or-
ganization still subsists, at least in part : and
their vegetable substance has suffered a change
only in colour, smell, or consistence 3 altera-
tions which are produced by the developement
of their oily and bituminous parts, or by their
natural progrefs towards rottennefs. Such
are the fofsil vegetables found in Cornwall,
by Borlase ; in Efsex, by Derham ; in York-
shire, by De la Pryme, and Richardson ; and
in foreign countries, by other naturalists.
These vegetables are found at different depths,
some of them much below the present level
of the sea, but in clayey or sandy strata, (evi-
dently belonging to modern formation,) and
have, no doubt, been carried from their ori-

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 553

ginal place, and deposited there by the force
of great rivers or currents, as it has been ob-
served with respect to the Mifsifsippi*. In
many instances, however, these trees and
shrubs are found standing on their roots, ge-
nerally in low or marshy places, above, or
very little below, the actual level of the sea.

To this last description of fofsil vegetables,
the decayed trees here described certainly be-
long. They have not been transported by
currents or rivers ^ but, though standing in
their native soil, we cannot suppose the level
in which they are found, to be the same as
that in which they grew. It would have
been impofsible for any of these trees and
shrubs to vegetate so near the sea, and below
the common level of its water : the waves
would cover such tracts of land, and hinder
any vegetation. We cannot conceive that
the surface of the ocean has ever been lower
than it now is ; on the contrary, we are led
by numberlefs phaenomena to believe, that
the level of the waters in our globe is much

* La Coudreniere sur les Depots du Mifsifsipi. Jeurn.
JePijs. Vol XXI. p. 230.

Nn 3

554 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

below what it was in former periods ; we
must therefore conclude, that the forest here
described grew in a level high enough to
permit its vegetation ; and that the force
(whatever it was) which destroyed it, lowered
the level of the ground where it stood.

There is a force of subsidence (particularly
in soft ground) which, being a natural con-
sequence of gravity, slowly though perpetually
operating, has its action sometimes quickened
and rendered sudden by extraneous causes,
for instance, by earthquakes. The slow ef-
fects of this force of subsidence have been
accurately remarked in many places j ex-
amples also of its sudden action are recorded
in almost every history of great earthquakes.
The shores of Alexandria, according to Do-
lomieu's observations, are a foot lower than
they were in the time of the Ptolemies. Do-
nati, in his natural history of the Adriatic, has
remarked, seemingly with great accuracy, the
effects of this subsidence at Venice ; at Pola,
in Istria j at Lifsa, Bua, Zara, and Diclo, on
the coast of Dalmatia. In England, Borlase
has given, in the Philosophical Transactions *,

* Vol. XLVIIl. p. 62. S

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 555

a curious observation of a subsidence, of at
least sixteen feet, in the ground between
Sampson and Trescaw islands, in Scilly. The
soft and low ground between the towns of
Thorne and Gowle, in Yorkshire, a space of
many miles, has so much subsided in latter
times, that some old men of Thorne affirmed,
" that whereas they could before see little of
" the steeple, (of Gowle,) they now see the
" churchyard wall*." The instances of simi-
lar subsidence which might be mentioned,
are innumerable.

This force of subsidence, suddenly acting
by means of some earthquake, seems to me
the most probable cause to which the actual
submarine situation of the forest we are speak-
ing of may be ascribed. It affords a simple,
easy explanation of the matter ; its probabi-
lity is supported by numbcrlefs instances of
similar events ; and it is not liable to the
strong objections which exist against the hy-
pothesis of the alternate deprefsion and eleva-
tion of the level of the ocean ; an opinion
which, to be credible, requires the support

* Cough's Edition of Camden's Britannia, T. III. p. 35.

Nn 4

556 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

of a great number of proofs, lefs equivocal
than those which have hitherto been urged in
its favour, even by the genius of a Lavoisier *.

The stratum of soil, sixteen feet thick,
placed above the decayed trees, seems to re-
move the epoch of their sinking and destruc-
tion, far beyond the reach of any historical
knowledge. In Cassar's time, the level of the
north sea appears to have been the same as in
our days. He mentions the separation of the
Wahal branch of the Rhine, and its junction to
the Meuse ; noticing the then existing dis-
tance from that junction to the sea; which
agrees, according to D'Anville's inquiries f,
with the actual distance. Some of the Roman
roads constructed by order of Augustus, un-
der Agrippa's administration, leading to the
maritime towns of Belgium, still exist, and
reach the present shore J. The descriptions
which Roman authors have left us, of the
coasts, ports, and mouths of rivers, on both

• M^m. deV Jcad. de Pans. 17 89. p. 351.
f D'Anville Notice des Gaules. p. 461.
X Nicol. Bergier. Hist, des grands Chemins des Romains.
Ed. de Bruxelles. Vol. II, p. 109.

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 55t

sides of the north sea, agree in general with
their present state ; except in the places ra-
vaged by the inroads of this sea, more apt,
from its form, to destroy the surrounding
countries, than to increase them.

An exact resemblance exists between ma-
ritime Flanders and the opposite low coast of
England, both in point of elevation above the
. sea, and of internal structure and arrange-
ment of their soils. On both sides, strata of
clay, silt, and sand, (often mixed with decayed
vegetables"), are found near the surface ; and,
in both, these superior materials cover a very
deep stratum of bluish or dark-coloured clay,
unmixed with extraneous bodies. On both
sides, they are the lowermost part of the soil,
existing between the ridges of high lands *,
on their respective sides of the same narrow-
sea. These two countries are certainly coeval ;

* These ridges of high lands, both on the British and
Belgic side, must be very similar to each other, since
they botli contain parts of tropical plants in a folsil state.
Cocoa nuts, and fruits of the areca, are found in the
Belgic ridge. The petrified fruits of Sheppy, and other
iraprefsions of tropical plants, on ti;is side of the wdler,
are well known.

558 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

and, whatever proves that maritime Flanders
has been for many ages out of the sea, must,
in my opinion, prove also, that the forest we
are speaking of was long before that time de-
stroyed, and buried under a stratum of soil.
Now it seems proved, from historical records,
carefully collected by several learned members
of the Brafsels Academy, that no material
change has happened to the lowermost part
ot maritime Flanders, during the period of the
last two thousand years *.

I am therefore inclined to suppose the ori-
ginal catastrophe which buried this forest, to
be of a very ancient datcj but I suspect the
inroad of the sea which uncovered the de-
cayed trees of the islets of Sutton, to be com-
paratively recent. The state of the leaves and
of the timber, and also the tradition of the
neighbouring people, concur to strengthen
this suspicion. Leaves and other delicate
parts of plants, though they may be long pre-
served in a subterraneous situation, cannot re-
main uninjured, when exposed to the action
of the waves and of the air. The people of

* Vide several papers in the Brufsels Memoires ^ also
Journ. de Phys. T. XXXIV. p. 401 .

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 559

the country believe, that their parish church
once stood on the spot where the islets now
are, and was submerged by the inroads of the
sea; that, at very low water, their ancestors
could even discern its ruins ; that their present
church was built to supply the place of that
which the waves washed away ; and that
even their present clock belonged to the old
church. So many concomitant though weak
testimonies, incline me to believe their report,
and to suppose that some of the stormy inun-
dations of the north sea, which in these last
centuries have washed away such large tracts
of land on its shores, took away a soil resting
on clay, and at last uncovered the trees which
are the subject of this Efsay.

560 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

ESSAY XL.

On the Propriety of uniting Trade and Literature.

If we look back through all the records of
history, we shall find it generally allowed
that the Phoenicians were not only the original
inventors of letters, but that they were also the
first people who distinguished themselves by
their trade ; and that they have ever since
been held up as a proof to what height of
grandeur, wealth, and power a nation may
arrive, when learning is cultivated at the same
time with commerce *.

Athens had her Piraeus, her ports or docks,
and thought " trade her life and glory f," at
the time when her inhabitants carried the ele-
gant arts to the utmost perfection — " free
and independent as Sparta, able to defend its
liberties in the field against the most numerous

* Whose Merchants were Princes. Isaiah.
t Rolijn.

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 561

and warlike people, it carefully attended to
the encouragement of commerce, and brought
home the wealth of the most distant climates
to its own convenience and emolument*."

When Alexandria became the Emporium
of all the trade between India and Europe,
it was renowned for its learning 3 during the
times of the Ptolomies, the succefsors of
Alexander, the trade of Alexandria flourished
so much " that this city alone boasted of up-
wards of four thousand ships employed in
trade," — this was the period when canals
were cut, when piers were formed, and light-
houses erected— it was at this period when
the largest library that ever had been, or that
ever has been formed, was instituted ; and so
long as commerce flourished in Egypt, so
Jong was she esteemed for her learning.

By her commerce, Carthage was enabled
for more than a century to withstand the
whole force of the Roman Republic ; and
though her annals during this period of her
history exhibit the names of but few learned

* Athenian Letters.

562 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

men, yet " she pofsefsed some libraries, and
to her schools the most powerful African
princes sent their sons for education* ;" but
had Carthage cultivated learning as much as
commerce, Punic faith would not have been
handed down to posterity as a reproach to
trade f.

Learning and commerce were both at their
zenith in the Roman Empire during the
Augustine age ; and so long as Palmyra J en-
joyed the trade of the East, so long was she
the seat of learning and the arts. To what
circumstance does she owe her present state^
celebrated even in ruins, but to the lofs of her
trade.

The revival of letters, after what is called
the dark ages, was principally to be attributed

* Rollin.

t The magistrates of Carthage ordained, that no citizen
of Carthage should learn any other language than his
own.

X Longinus was prime minister to Zenobia, Queen of
Palmyra, " a judicious critic, if ever there was one." —
Mihers History cf the Church.

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 563

to commerce. The great family of the Me-
dici, to whom we are so much indebted for
bringing about that great event, were origi-
nally merchants, the bankers and loan-con-
tractors to most of the crowned heads in
Europe.

" The protection afforded by Lorenzo to
all the polite arts, gave them a permanent
foundation in Italy. In the establishment of
public libraries, schools, and seminaries of
learning, he was equally magnificent, inde-
fatigable, and succefsful ; thus a private citizen
and a merchant of Florence, not only obtained
the decided control of that state, but raised
himself to the rank of sole arbiter of Italy,
and his descendants became connected by
marriage to the first European sovereigns *."

At the time the Portuguese discovered the
pafsage to the East, round the Cape of Good-
Hope, they stood the highest in the scale of
literature. And learning was never so much
cultivated in Spain as at the period of the dis-
covery of America, for the purpose of trade.

* Roscoe.

564 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

To the eager thirst after trade do we owe
the greatest part of our knowledge of the
north-west coast of America ; and although
under the present reign, discovery has been
the ostensible object of all our expeditions to
the great Pacific Ocean, yet his Majesty's
Counsellors have always had an attentive eye
to the extension of our commerce in all their
instructions. From private adventurers, whose
profefsed motives have been trade alone, have
we procured an useful fund of literary and
philosophical information, whether we con-
sider our acquisitions in natural history, or the
knowledge we have thereby obtained of the
various governments that exist.

To the trade in furs we are indebted for all
the information we have of the Hordes that
acknowledge the Rufsian sway, and to the
same source an acquaintance with millions ot
Chinese. A desire to participate in the trade
of Tibet, has brought us acquainted with the
religion of the grand Lama, and the constitution
of the Birman empire, whose sovereign is said
" to pofsefs more books than any other
crowned head from the Danube to China *."

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 565

To what do we owe the proud station
which this country now holds in the history of
the literary world, but to the political conse-
quence we have acquired by our maritime
affairs. In the time of Queen Elizabeth, so
little were the people of this country ac-
quainted with the principles of ship-building,
that all our large ships were built by
foreigners, and purchased of them. And it
was not till we had that enlightened monarch
on the throne, that government afsisted private
individuals for the extension of commerce.

It is true that a spirit of commerce as well as
literature began to re-appear all over Europe,
in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, and
this was the jEra of the discovery of the
magnet, but it was not till a century later
that its application to navigation was adopted j
and had not commercial enterprise been
united with an ardent thirst after knowledge,
this valuable discovery would not have been
usefully employed.

The same may be said of every other branch
of literature ; for although the genius of a fe\y
great men broke through the mist of igno-
rance, it was not till after this period that

Volinne VI. O o

566 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

learning and commerce were generally diffused
through diis country.

Thus we see from the history of the world,
in all acres, that commerce and literature have
always gone hand in hand.

Aluch as tlic nation may boast of the learning
of individuals, in her two Universities, I
believe it is acknowledged that some of our
trading towns have done more in the last fifty
years toward the encouragement of literature,
and the propagation of the arts, than both
those ancient seats of learning*.

But the principle has its foundation in
human nature ; the mind of man is thrown
into a state of the greatest exertion, by the
stimulus of rivalry and bustle. Do we not
always observe that those who have the most
private concerns do the most for the public,
and that those whose independency of situation
makes life almost irksome for want of employ,
scarcely ever engage in the discharge of public
businefs ; nay, I believe that every man who

• Manchester. Glasgow.

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 561

accustoms himself to the full and due em-
ployment of life, always feels that the more
he has to do, the more his mind is alert and
capable of businefs; and that the truest satis-
faction results from industry. Happinefs has
been defined the enjoyment of health in body
and mind, but health can only be preserved
by an ordinate and duly adjusted application
of the proper agents on each excitable part of
the system : thus when the body is stimulated
into muscular exertion, we feel and enjoy the
pleasure of existence ; but in the exercise of
the body we enjoy only half of what we are
capable. When the mind is stimulated to
the employment of its faculties in acquiring
learning, or in the application of that know-
ledge to useful and profitable purposes, we
feel a pleasure which man considers as pe-
culiar to his species j and when these dif-
ferent agents are exactly balanced in their
operations, we feel true rational enjoyment ^
thus labour and study mutually afsist each
other in promoting happinefs ; and thus litera-
ture, or rather the desire to know what others
have done and thought, naturally connects
itself with the spirit of commercial enter-
prise.

Oo 2

568 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

I am very well aware that the modern
philosopher who looks with such eagernefs
to the future amelioration of mankind, and
who flatters himself were all his principles
universally acted upon, that the world would
be perfect, ridicules the spirit of trade, and
considers its prosecution, however succefsful,
as destructive of every principle ot virtue,
as tending in the greatest degree to debase
the human mind, and to unfit us for the true
enjoyment of life j but why are we to be
governed by the opinion of a man, who shut
up in his study, sees at a distance, through
a tinted medium, the man of businefs enjoy-
ing in ease and plenty his well earned hours
of relaxation.

Where do v.e find generosity and bene-
volence more conspicuously pourtrayed than
in the character of the true English mer-
chant ? Look to some uf our noblest institu-
tions, whether for the relief of the sick, the
decent maintenance of old age, or in rewards
for those who bravely defend their country,
and we shaii find, that it is to the succefsful
man of businefs that they chiefly owe their
origin and support ?

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 569

That commerce when accompanied with
literature does not debase the national cha-
racter, take but a view of the rival states of
Athens and of Sparta ; to him who prefers
the savage liberty and black broth of the lat-
ter, to all the elegancies and refined pleasures
of the former, I can only say 1 envy him not
his taste.

To their intercourse with the world, by
means of trade, did the Athenians owe that
superiority so universally acknowledged, for
nothing tends so much as trade to the circula-
tion of industry, wealth, and happinefs through
a whole people ; it becomes a common tye
to connect the distant parts of the most ex-
tended empire, and like the circulation of the
blood in the natu}'al body, conveys life, heallh,
and warmth over the political.

To her commerce did Athens owe that
superiority which her polished inhabitants
manifested over those of Sparta *.

There are men of businefs who, by great
natural talent and dint of industry, have ac-

* Rullin.

O o 3

570 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

quired, without any learning, princely fortunes,
and who are heard to deride letters, and to
consider the time employed in study as wasted,
but " knowledge is light, and the more a man
" has of it, the better he will see his way
" through the world." — In the opinion of
Addison, " a man that has spent his youth in
learning, will discharge his businefs as a mer-
chant with more honesty than one that is
ignorant, because he has been used to find in
his books virtue extolled, and vice stigma-
tized— there will be at least this advantage in
a liberal education, his prosperity will sit more
gracefully upon him*."

Johnson has said, " that learning is the result
of leisure f," and seems to infer that study and
businefs are incompatible.

Learning: considered onlv as a science to
be enjoyed solely as a personal acquirement,
or pursued merely for the pleasure and repu-
tation it affords, can alone be attained to effect
by leisure : the mind, like the body, must be
constantly excited by an increase of stimulus^
he who w^ishes to derive all his enjoyments

•Spectator. f Rambler,

GEORGICAL ES3AYS. 571

from learning, must be able to exhibit proofs
of acquirements superior to those with whom
he afsociates, and this certainly requires leisure,
and an absolute devotion to the object ; but
how few are there who can derive happincfs
from such a source ; and after all, this is but
too often a mere selfish pleasure — nay, there is
something of vice in the indulgence of our
taste for literature without a useful object ;
the man who studies for his amusement and
neglects to employ his acquirements, resem-
bles him who privately indulges any of his
pafsions for his individual sensual gratification;
but the learning acquired by the active and
inquiring man of businefs, becomes in his
hands a useful art, a virtue, and is made con-
ducive not only to his own and family's hap-
pinefs and comfort, but to the general good
of society; not merely hugged in selfish luxury,
as by the recluse, but freely communicated to
all his connections.

There is yet another good that will result
from the consideration that commerce and
literature arc not incompatible, and that is an
improvement in the plan of education for the
rising generation, whose local situation and
circumstances may adapt them for trade. It

O o 4

572 GEORGICAL ESSAYS.

has been too long the general opinion, if a
youth showed extraordinary talents, or ascend-
ed with any uncommon celerity the first steps
to literature, that it would be wrong to destine
such abilities, or so much genius, to trade ^ to
one of the learned profefsions he ought to be
devoted : thus inferring that the cultivation of
such abilities, and so much genius, would be
thrown away in becoming a merchant — but is
not '' happinefs our being's end and aim,"
and is not the succefsful employment of our
abilities neccfsary to true happinefs ? why
then destine one half of the brightest of our
children to certain misery, for not one half*
of those who are educated for profefsions are
capable of finding support from the pofsefsion
of the greatest talents. If then we act upon
such principles as these, shall we not be justly
chargeable with the future misery of our chil-
dren j and truly miserable indeed is the pro-
fefsional man, who wishes, but has not the
opportunity of employing his talents and ac-
quirements to the great end of life !

Let us then determine by every effort in cur
power, to kcip alive the spirit of inquiry ^ —

*■ Vide Dr. Smith's Wealth of NatioriS.

GEORGICAL ESSAYS. 573

let US combine the best abilities with the
best means of education in our sons who are
destined for trade, and we shall live to see
every trading and manufacturing town become
the pride and boast of our country j for com-
merce and literature are not incompatible, and
when united, are capable of affording the
greatest sum of human happinefs.

CONTENTS
OF VOLUME SIXTH.

PAGE

ESSAY I. By G. Martine, M. D.
On the 'various degrees of Heat in Living and

Dead Bodies . . ... 1

ESSAY II. By William Jefsop, Esq.
On Inland Navigations ajid Public Roads . . 74

ESSAY III. By W. Paley, D. D.
On Natural History ^ as applied to the Proof of

an Intelligent Creator . • . . .88

ESSAY IV. By William Fairman, Esq.
On Extreme-branch Graf ting f with a plate . .103

ESSAY V. By John Billingsley, Esq.
On the comparative Advantages attending the
Purchase of Freehold and Leasehold
Lands ill —

ESSAY VI. By A. Hunter, M. D.
On the Mulberiy TreCy with a plate . .117

CONTENTS. 5^5

PAGE

ESSAY VII. By A. Hunter, M. D.
On the Smut in Wheat . . . .125

5AY VIII. By A. Young, Esq. v^

Falloxvmg . . . .128 -<C i

ESSAY
On Sumyner Falloi

ESSAY IX. By Mr. Henry Robinson.
On Far m-Fard Management , . ,145

ESSAY X.

On the Mixture of Agriculture and Manufac-
tures ... ... 149

ESSAY XI.

A Political Renovation, addrcfsed to the Year 1812 155

ESSAY XII. By several.

Experiments and concise Agricultural Observa-
tions . . . . . .160

1. A Caution to Young Farmers . . .169

2. On Soiling 161

3. On Night Soil . • • .161

4. On Cojiipost . . . • .163

5. A Humane and Meritorious Method of ex-

tending the breed of Pigs . . 1 G t

6. On the Efsex Hoe . . . .166

7. On Iheing and Weeding in the Countj/ of

Efsex .167

S. On the Management of Head-lands . 16S

576 CONTENTS.

PAGE

9. On the marks of a good Cow . 169
10. On Milk 169

\\' On Sowing Turnips among Beans , 173

\2. On Harrowing . . . . .173

13, Expenses and Profit of Sixti/ Acres of Grafs

Land, Dairy Farm, and twenty Cows 174

\4:. On Public Scavengers . . . .176

\ 5, On Couch Grafs 176

\&. On Water Meadows . . . .177

17. A profitable method of managing four

Acres of a deep Loamy Soil . .178

1%. On Paring and Burning . , .180

19. On the Management of Wheat in the Shock 181

20. On Salting Hay 181

2\. On Steaming Potatoes and Turnips . 182
22. On Sheep, as to buying and selling . 183

2Z. On the Qualifications of a Shepherd . . J 84

24. On driving Sheep to fold . . .186

25. On Pastures 1S8

26. On the speediest method of diffusing Agri-

cultural knowledge . . . .189

27. On feeding Turnips on the Land, or cart-

ing them to Sheds . . .191

2^. On Ribband Grafs . . . .195

29. On the Dibbling Husbandry . . .195

CONTENTS.

6T7

PAGE

30. On Old Sheep Pasture not convertible into

Meadow . ; . . .196

31. On repairing new laid Land . .197

32. ^ hunuine method of bringing Waste Lands

into Cultivation . . . .198

33. On the Resources against a severe J f ''inter

and Spring . , • ,198

34. On the Milk consumed in London . , 200

35. On Tares .... 202

36. On Marl-grafi . ... 20-t

37. On Rape/or Cattle • , , 204

38. On Carrots and Potatoes . , . 205

39. On Suckling . . , .205

40. On Deep Ploughing . , , 207

41. On Wheat Dibbled on a Clover Lay , 20S

42. On the Rot in Sheep . , . 208

43. On obtaining a vinous Spirit from Carrots 21 1

44. The most profitable method of bringing

Waste Land into Cidtivation . .212

45. The bad consequences of a Farmer s lefsen-

ing his capital, by the Purchase of Land 213

46. The collection of Tythes in kind, an im-

proper employment for a Clergyman . 214-
41. Beans preferable to a Fallow . .217

48 . Observations on the above System . . 220

578

CONTENTS.

PAGE

49. On Tares .... 222

60. On Winter Tares . . . 223

51. On Washing Roads . . . . 224

52. To produce Apples, of which one half of

each will be sweet and the other half

sour .... 225

53. On the Threshing Mill . . .227

54. The progrefsive rate of amelioration of Wool,

hy the Spanish crofs . . . 22S

B5, On Parsnips . . . .228

56. On Straw Hay . . , . 229

57. On Tallow-chandlei''' s Graves . . 229
b^. How to collect materials for Manure . 230

59. On laying down Land to Grafs . .231

60. To destroy Thistles . . .232
G\. On steeping Seed Wheat . . . 233

62. On the Construction of Habitations for

Labourers . . . .235

63. On the Application of Manures to Sandy

Soils . . ... 242

6i. On Paring and Burning . . . 243

65. On the Culture of Turnips . .243

66. On the Course of Crops . . . 246

61. On Buck-wh€at Hay . . . 247
%8. On laying Bam Floors . . .243

CONTENTS.

579

PAGE

69. On Jledge-row Planting . .253

70. A Speculation . , . . 254
11. On large and small Inclomres . . 255

72. 0?i the Ruta Bag a . . . 25G

73. On Skegs .... 259

74. On the Improvement of Vegetables . 259

75. On the Punjication of Grey Marine Salt,

without expense . . . 260

76. On Hand-weeding Wheat . • . 262

77. On forming Roads on Clay, or wet Bottoms 263
IS. On procuring Opium from Lettuce . 264
19 . On the covered Fold . . ,265
%0. On the Supports of Agriculture . .266

81. On converting Weeds and Vegetable matter

into Manure . . . . 268

82. On Lime .... 270

83. On the Application of Turnips . .273

84. On Raising Oaks , . . .274
S5. On the Age of a Horse . . . 276
SSOn the Training and Pruning of Vines . 283

87. On Lime ... . 286

88. On Paring and Burning . . • 287
89 On Nogs . , ... 28»
90. On Feeding Horses . . - 290

580 CONTENTS.

' PAGE

9\,0n Sagaciousnefsy sharpened hij ear^y ?/<?-
cefsiiy, in opposition to the effects pro-
duced bjj toys and phtythings given to
the Children of the Rich . . . 29 1
92. On Woollen Rags . . , .294

9i. Income of the Kingdom , . . 294

94. On Drawing Turnips . . . 295

95. On Cottagers renting Land, or enjoying

small Freeholds . . .297 —

96. On the Corn Trade - . .301

97. The Method of making Butter in Holland 303

98. On Fastening the Roots of IVheat . . 304
100. On Meadow Land in the occupation of Cow-
keepers in the neighbourhood of London 305

ESSAY XIII. By Charles Howard, Esq.
On Farm-yard Management • . • 307

ESSAY XIV. By A. Hunter, M. D.
On the Yew Tree, with a plate . . .816

ESSAY XV. By John Middleton, Esq
On Hay Making ... 324

ESSAY XVI.
On the Effects of Country Banks on the Price

of Provisions 332

ESSAY XVII. By John Middleton, Esq.
On Live Stock . . ... 340

CONTENTS. 581

PAGE

ESSAY XVIII. By Thomas Andrew Knight, Esq.
On the Fecundation of Vegetables . . 346

ESSAY XIX. By W. Paley, D. D.
On Prospestive Contrivances . . .359

ESSAY XX. By John Middleton, Esq.
On the Economy of a Dutch Dairy . .369

ESSAY XXI. By Mr. Forsyth,

On the Benovaiion of old Pear Trees . . 31€

ESSAY XXII. By John Middleton, Esq.

On Tares 381

ESSAY XXIII.
On the Poor Laws in Scotland . . . 389

ESSAY XXIV. By O. Goldsmith, Esq.

On the Changes produced by the Sea on the Earth 405

ESSAY XXV. By James Anderson, LL. D.

On Local Agriculture 436

ESSAY XXVI. By the Rev. Richard Yates,

On Raising the Oak 442

ESSAY XXVII. By N. Kent, Esq.
On the Spanish Chesnut . . . .452

ESSAY XXVllI. By L. Majendie, Esq.
On the Formation of Underwoods . . .456

ESSAY XXIX.
On Lime 459

Volume VL P p

S82 CONTENTS.

PAGE

ESSAY XXX. By John Middleton, Esq.
On House Lamb ..... 464

ESSAY XXXI. By N. Kent, Esq.
On ihe Poor i . . . . . 468

ESSAY XXXII. By John Thomson, D. D.
On the Education of the Poor , • . 47S

ESSAY XXXIII. By O. Goldsmith, Esq.
On Animal and Vegetable Life . . . 480

ESSAY XXXIV. By Robert Somerville, Esq.
On Planting Trees in Hedge Rows . . 493

ESSx\Y XXXV. By John Thomson, D. D.
On the Size of Farms .... 500 —

ESSAY XXX\a. By N. Kent, Esq.
^^ On Leases ...... 507 **

ESSAY XXXVII. By W. Paley, D. D.

On Instinct . . . • . .513

ESSAY XXXVIII. Bv James Anderson, LL. D.

On the Rationale of Mowing and Pasturage. . 534

ESSAY XXXIX. By Dr. Correa de Serra,
On a submarine Forest, on the east coast of

England 542

ESSAY XL. By John Alderson, M. D.
On the Propriety of unitiTig Trade and Lite-
rature ... , , . 560

A DVERTISEMENT.

AFTER what the Editor has said in the Preface to
the first Volume of these Efsays, it will be almost su-
perfluous to repeat that he will not consider himself as
injured, but, on the contrary, as highly honoured by
the insertion of any of the original papers of this collec-
tion, in the different publications appropriated to Agri-
cultaral concerns. A difsemination of that kind will
prove very useful to those persons who cannot con-
veniently become purchasers of expensive publications,
and who, perhaps, stand most in need of such informa-
tion.

York, March 24', 1604.

THE END OF VOLUME VI.

Lately was PuilisheJf
In two Volumes, quarto, price Three Guineas, in
Boards, and ornamented with original Engravings of
all the Forest Trees, the third Edition, revised,
corrected, and considerably enlarged, of

EVELYN'S SYLVA; or, a DISCOURSE of FOREST
TREES; to which is added, the TERRA; a PHILO-
SOPHIC AL DISCOURSE of EARTH. With NOTES.
By A. HUNTER, M.D. F. R. S. L. & E.

Printed for the Author, and sold by J. Mawfiian,
Poultry; Cadell, jun. and Davies, Strand; and B. and J.
White, Fleet-street, London : Wilson and Spencc,
J. Todd, Sotheran and Son, and J. Wolstenholme, York:
A. Constable, Edinburgh : and J. Archer, Dublin.

Advertisement. — Having had the satisfaction to see
three Editions of this Work called for, during a period of
twenty-four years, and as this will be the last to which I
can expect to put my hand, I have only to exprefs my
warmest acknowledgments for the favourable reception
that my endeavours have met vvitb.

A. HUNTER.
York, March 24-, 1804.

PrintcJ by

T, WILSON and R.SPENCE,

HJghOu£e£.iU, Ycrk.

nil