Our Farmer thinks Ellis's 10, or even 5, bufhels of falt, on an acre of rye, a fure prefcription for barrennefs. We with the experiment tried 1. See Peters's Winter Riches, p. 159.

The practical Farmer begins his 3d chapter, on barley, with a great mistake, viz. that the barley fown in the South is hardly known in the North; whereas in reality the barley generally cultivated in the North of England is the very fame as this in the South, and bear, or bigg, is feldom fown there.

He gives one of the beft proofs of his friend Mr. Tull having a mind open to conviction, when he affures us, that he more often fowed his barley broad-caft. Indeed Mr. Young gives fo picturefque a defcription of drilled barley hanging in all directions, that Sir Digby Legard's perfevering in drilling this grain does him no honour: and our practical Farmer mentions the tillering of fresh ftalks from the roots of drilled barley as an unanswerable objection to the practice. See p. 227.

We will pafs over his repeated declamation in favour of a fmall allowance of feed, both of barley and clover, of which latter he allows but a pound to an acre. We join him againt Mr. Miller, who would have no feeds fown with barley but we entirely diffent from him as to leaving the mown barley in fwarth. It should be neatly bound in fheaves or gaits, and may fafely be mown before it is ripe.

In his 4th chapter, on oats, our Farmer affumes the character of a prophet of evil tidings:

He aflerts, that the growth of wheat is become the object of attention not only to Europe but America, which, at this hour, chicfly fupplies Italy, Spain, and Portugal; and that France makes fuch improvements in agriculture that fhe will foon have an overplus, which (with the fuperabundance of Sicily, and accumulated produce of our colonies) will make wheat fo cheap that our merchants cannot go to market without double of that bounty which we now complain of.' He adds, that we now pay half a million yearly for oats imported.' His conclufion is, that we ought to turn our attention to the culture of oats, for which the demand will foon be the greateft, as importation of them must be prohibited. We can only fay in this place, " Di aneliora!"

But our practical Farmer (now that he is in the way of pro phefying) pours forth liberally his evil tidings. In his fad feries tand Plenty, Murmuring, Poverty, Bankruptcy, Seizure for Rent, Decay of Trade, Imprisonment, Beggary.-Rents finks, intereft rifes, gentlemen rent lands nominally their own. On this fad profpect we have only one queftion to afk, "Why would this practical Farmer make complete Farmers of us all "

Four have been tried, with great fuccefs.

In chapter 5, on buck whenit, our Farmer complains that he does not underftand Mr. Young's calculations, and thinks the expences throughout much undervalued. Juftice requires us to fay that having carefully examined the work of Mr. Young's here referred to (viz. his courfe of experiments) we think this complaint ill founded, and that our Farmer should have given inftances to juftify fuch an heavy cenfure of that Writer*. In the 6th chapter, on peas, our Farmer afferts that the Tullian method for them is good. But the practice of drilling peas is of much older date than Mr. Tull, and is only trantferred from the garden to the field. What renders drilling of peas a good method in the garden, is the 1oding them; but this part is thought too troublesome and expenfive to be copied in the field; and without this rodding, drilling is ineffectual; for the vines cover the intervals, and are deftroyed by the horsehoe, as any perfon may eafily imagine, and as Mr. Young, in his experiment, allerts; infomuch that he justly looks on the drill hufbandry for this plant as moft ridiculous.

The fuccedancums for rods, viz. oats, beans, or what our Author thinks better than both, rye, feem indefenfible; and Mr. Young rightly judges that a broad-caft crop of peas is best in value for the feed, and best prepares the land for wheat.

Amid that great variety of courfes of crops which takes place, and not improperly, in an equally great variety of foil, &c. our Farmer feems to advance a good general rule, which may be applied to them all, viz. that every crop which lies long in the ground fhould be fucceeded by one which lies not long as wheat by barley, fays our Farmer, or by turnips, fay we. We would recommend another general rule, viz. that exhaufting crops be fucceeded by meliorating ones;" as barley by clover.

On chapter the 7th, of beans, we muft obferve, that this is the vegetable which feems to fucceed beft in the drill culture, but had poffeffion of their culture in the garden long before Mr. Tull, and is only transferred to the field. Our Farmer speaks with just refpect of Mr. Young's method of making them a Crop after wheat, not before it, as is ufual.

But the Friend of Mr. Tull feems miftaken when he fays. that there is no innovation in the kind fown in the field.

We

*We are well affured that a certain gentleman objected to the truth of Mr. Young's account of expences in his courfe of experiments, that he charged ploughing only at 1 s. per acre. The bookfeller justly answered, "The thilling is only the pay of the ploughman's labour; the charge of the draught is made elfewhere." This is the fact; and it is no wonder that, when men read thus carelefsly, they do not understand the calculations which Mr. Young's Experiments exhibit, and think his charges much below truth.

very

apprehend

apprehend that Mr. Young recommends the tick-bean, of a middle fize betwixt the common horfe and large Windfor bean. In chapter 8, our Farmer repeats his fancy about rye fown with vetches to fupport them. His defeription of a friem, or fkim, to hoe weeds, feems fimple and ufeful.

In chapter 10, he recommends, in order to fave turnips from the fly, the fowing of fome feed under furrow and fome above, that if one fprouting be destroyed by the fly, the other may efcape; alfo the fowing of part new feed, and part of old, as thefe come up at different times. He owns, however, both methods fometimes ineffectual, and advifes to featter new flak'd Jime on the turnips beginning to sprout. The mixing of radish feed with that of turnip he alfo mentions, and Mr. Miller's hungry poultry, for the deftruation of the caterpillar.

Our Farmer allows Mr. Miller a very moderate fhare of theoretical knowledge of husbandry, and accufes him of manifeft want of practical, and of want of candour towards his friend Mr. Tull, whofe drilling of turnips he conceals.

In chapter 11, on carrots, our Farmer judiciously notes, as a matter worthy of obfervation, that, according to Mr. Billing's account, cabbages were more than doubly profitable, compared with carrots, and carrots doubly profitable compared with turnips; alfo that Mr. Billing fhould have noted whether carrots can be kept in the ground in winter without damage.We apprehend, they cannot.

In our Farmer's account of potatoes, in chapter 12, it deferves notice, that the earlicft fort are the Lib purple, which, well-managed, afford two crops. But our Farmer is mifinformed when he aflerts that bread made of them is more wholesome than that which is made of wheat and rye, which is, probably, the wholfomet bread imaginable. Potatoe bread is however catable, and not unnourishing or unwholefome.

He entertains no high opinion of Mr. Miller as an hufbandman; and indeed he has given us fome fpecimens not much to that gentleman's honcur, in that character. He adds one, in this chapter, of the fame tendency, viz. that excellent gardener's affertion, that by propagating potatoes by feed we thall have them two months after planting. This affertion muft appear to every reader, as it did to our Farmer, most improbable! However, by diligent enquiry into practice, he has found that potatoes are procured as early as Midfummer by feed; but then it is by planting them as foon after Candlemas as the weather will permit, and when they have been trained two whole years before. It must be owned that our Farmer has Mr. MilJer (whom he confiders as envious of his old friend Mr. Tull) at great advantage here. Mr. Miller fhould have explained the

feeming

feeming wonder, if he knew it. If he did not, he confirms our Farmer's idea of the mediocrity of his knowledge in husbandry.

Our Farmer begins his 13th chapter, on clover, with an extract from a book, whofe title he gives not; but affirms that it was in no fmall repute at the time of its publication, the beginning of this century, in which it is predicted that clover will prove of mischievous confequence to the public by the plenty it will create. Our Author juftiy laughs at this prophet. Yet we hear people, on just as good grounds, declaim against inclosures.

Mr. Tull receives no credit from his prejudices against clover; and the memory of Sir Richard Wefton fhould be dear to the English husbandman.

We agree with our complete Farmer that the clover-feed of a dry good year is preferable, when two or three years old, to new feed of a cold year; and we think with him, that it is probable, the naturally-brown feed, as best ripened, vegetates beft: but we dare not affirm, with him, that one quart of feed, however good, is better than four for an acre; nor know we how large bare patches can be covered without fresh sowing.

He rightly advises to fow clover over barley when in blade, juft covering the ground, that it may not hurt the barley crop; and, on the fame principle, to fow it quickly after oats, left they deftroy it.

The fowing of clover over wheat is a matter of delicacy. If fown in February, it may overtake and damage the wheat: if later, it will frequently fail, the ground being furface-bound by the heats, &c.

Our Farmer's objection to sowing of clover on what he calls wheat fteaches or ridges, because the crop growing in the furrows cannot be mown, is trifling. Any practical farmer knows, that when a meadow lies in ridges (as is frequently neceffary) the mowers go across the ridges.

Our Farmer well advifes to keep the clover, when mown, in windrows till dry; and he juftly notes the rifque of getting a crop from feed, on account of rains, mists, &c.

Mr. Miller has ftrenuously advised to fow clover in autumn, on this principle, viz. "the proper time of fewing is the precife time of feeding." Here our Farmer fhrewdly obferves, that clever is not a native of this country, but naturalized to our climate, and its proper time of feeding is May or June; that is, the end of May or beginning of June.' He allo obferves, not lefs fhrewdly, that, in confequence of Mr. Miller's rule, the time of fowing barley, oats, &c. would be autumn. gives alfo a reafon againft Mr. Miller's time of fowing, which feems to us unanswerable, viz. that clover fown in autumn has not time to gather ftrength to refift the winter's cold.' He has another good obfervation, viz. that, by fowing in autumn,

་

He

the

the farmer muft lofe his crop of wheat.' Mr. Miller will hardly fay, that the wheat may be alfo fown; for if the clover fucceed, it will greatly injure if not deftroy the wheat. Our complete Farmer is fevere upon Mr. Miller as going out of the road of his profeffion, gardening; and he corrects Mr. Dickfon, a Scotch clergyman, for blaming all English authors for recommending autumn as the proper feafon for fowing clover, whereas only Mr. Miller and a few of his pupils recommend it. We wish that he had been more particular on the fy which deftroys clover.

We approve our Farmer's advice of emptying by the hand, or, as it is ufually called, raking, the inteftines of an hoved beaft, as equally effectual, and fafer than incision.

On our practical Farmer's 14th chapter, on white clover, we have to remark, that any one who doubts that this plant is a native of Great Britain, need only look on lanes and commons in a dropping year, and he must be convinced that no plough ever came there.

We have some doubt about the truth of our Farmer's affertion, that white clover thrives beft on coid ground. On the contrary, we have obferved it to thrive beft on dry ground; and we think, that when dropping weather combines, with warm manures (of which kind are the coal-aihes) this excellent plant thrives beft on grounds generally dry.

We agree to thoroughly with our Farmer in his opinion that this plant has featce an equal for breeding fheep,' that we doubt not but its ufual name in the North, lamb-fuckling,' was

derived from obfervation of its ufe to lambs.

6

On chapter 15, on faintfin, we obferve, that Mr. Tull ap pears to have gained credit by his cultivation of this plant; and we think that the practical Farmer has done himself no lefs by his candid manner of warning his readers against what he thinks the mistakes of his old friend.

Thus Mr. Tull informs us that one acre of drilled faintfoin is worth two of fown. But our Farmer notes, that Mr. Tull himfelf acknowledges that fown faintfoin, if kept clean the two first years, will thrive as well as the drilled.'

Mr. Tull tells us, that faintfoin, though fo thin the first year as scarcely to be worth mowing, will in two or three years cover the ground. But our complete Farmer aflures us, from experiment, (and we believe him) that this is not the effect of new shoots from the old plants, but of new plants from the fcattered feed.

In the old husbandry from four to feven bufhels of feed are fown on one acre; but in the new from tw to fever gallons. Our Farmer obferves, it is better to hoe out the overplus than to want plants. We are our felves of opinion that it is fearcely

poffible