confequence to recommend himself to the Jews, than as having been fanctified by his Father, to come and announce HIS doctrine, and to inftruct us in truths unknown to the Gentiles, and very much altered by the Jews.' On other topics of controverfy, Dr. Courayer fpeaks with equal clearness and freedom. The original work was given in manufcript to the late Princefs Amelia, and left by her Royal Highness as a legacy to Dr. Bell, who publifhed it according to the Author's inftructions, and remarks, in his Advertisement, that "the laft fentiments of a writer of Mr. Le Courayer's celebrity, placed in fo particuJar a fituation, are furely, in themfelves, fufficient to excite the curiofity of the learned, and of every person who has any ferious regard for religion." The Tranflator, whofe name is concealed, profeffes to have given a ftrictly faithful, and almoft verbal, verfion of the work. To this gentleman, who, we believe, was chaplain to the Princefs, the Public are obliged for feveral learned and ingenious publications; for which our General Index may be confulted: turn to the name, in the lift, at the end of vol. I. ART. XIII. Tranfactions of the Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce. Vol. V. concluded: See our laft Month's Review, p. 463. PAPERS on AGRICULTURE. F we have not, in the prefent publication, fo many articles on this important branch of tcience, as were contained in fome of the preceding volumes, yet thofe which are here communicated to us, are fufficient to fhew that the labours of the Society have not been in vain. In the firft paper is given an account of a very extenfive plantation of trees at Butsfield, in Durham, belonging to Thomas White, of Retford, Nottinghamshire, Esquire, on whom the Society had formerly beftowed several honorary premiums for planting many different kinds of trees. A fenfe of gratitude,' fays Mr. White, for fuch liberal and ditinguifhed marks of the Society's favour and attention, paid to my feeble endeavours to profecute fo ufeful a work, has encouraged me to trouble you with this letter.' The Public are much obliged to Mr. White for this useful communication, and few, we believe, will think that the endeavours of that man have been feeble, who has converted, in a few years, FIVE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-SEVEN acres from a barren watte almost entirely into fine plantations of thriving trees. Those who wish to imitate fo laudable an example, will do well to read the prefent account, where they will meet with many useful practical obfervations on the fubject, the refult of experience, that cannot fail to prove highly beneficial to them, them. Of these useful hints, &c. our limits only permit us to take notice of two, which perfectly accord with our own obfervation and experience; viz. That it is much more beneficial to plant trees of a small size (not exceeding a foot or 18 inches in height, Mr. White fays; we would fay not exceeding fix inches or a foot) than fuch as are larger, where they are not. liable to be choaked by luxuriant weeds-And that the larch is, in general, a much better nurfe for plantations of young trees than the common pine, ufually employed for that purpose. In the course of his letter, Mr. White mentions the following curious experiment in agriculture, which was tried by Mr. Jones, gardener to the Earl of Darlington, at Raby castle; his account of which we shall present to our Readers: He fowed,' fays Mr. W. peas, which is fupposed to be rather a meliorating than an impoverishing crop, for ten years together, upon a piece of rich land; the refult of this experiment was, that for the first two years, the crop was abundant; but after that time, it gradually became more and more puny and meagre, fo much fo, that on the tenth year of fowing, the earth was fo drained of the proper nutriment this plant required, that the peas would not even vegetate within it, but lay till they became putrid; after which, without any previous manuring, he planted ftrawberrys upon the fame ground, which produced an excellent crop.' On this experiment we would barely remark, without impeaching the authenticity of the fact (which, however, we would be fcrupulous of implicitly admitting), that our knowledge of the manner in which foils can be rendered more or less fitted to produce particular vegetables in preference to others, is yet fo imperfect, that it would be extremely rafh in us to draw general inferences from particular facts. This is not a proper place for engaging in a deep difcuffion on the queftion concerning the nourishment of plants, or an inveftigation of the nature of meliorating or exhaufting crops; but we fhall here content ourfelves with briefly ftating a fact relating to this fubject, that is very generally known. Many perfons, who have been long in the practice of cultivating onions, are convinced that no mode of culture is so favourable for obtaining an abundant produce of this valuable efculent, as that of cropping the ground fucceffively with the fame plant, without any change, for a great number of years. We had an opportunity to fee this once done, and the experiment continued for mar twenty years running; the fpot on which the onions had thus been reared was then converted to another use, and although every exertion was made to obtain an abundant crop of onions on an adjoining spot of the Jame ground, yet it was feveral years before they could be brought to be nearly fo good a crop as the former. The fecond paper contains fome experiments and obfervations on the culture of turnips, by Mr. Winter, of Charleton, near Bristol. Briftol. Thefe experiments are by no means conclufive. They are also published in Mr. Winter's Compendious Syftem of Hufbandry; our Review of which will fpeedily appear. Thomas Boothby Parkyns, Efq. communicates, in the third paper, a hafty account of the culture of the plant called, in France, Racine de difette, which feems, as we formerly remarked, to be nothing but a fpecies of Beet*, the virtues of which, we fufpect, have been much exaggerated. It comes to us from Germany, through the medium of France; and we know the French are usually very fanguine in their expectations from new difcoveries of this nature. As the feeds of this plant are now to be had in England, we have not a doubt but its real qualities will be foon afcertained: though, like Burnet, Timothy grafs, &c. it will probably have its run among the credulous. The Mr. Ailway, in the fourth paper, mentions an experiment for deftroying the red fpider, that infefts hot-houses and pineries; and which proved effectual, in the laft feason, in the hothoufe of Mr. Clutterbuck, junior, of Watford, Herts. walls were carefully washed, by means of a painter's brush, with a folution of four ounces of fublimate in two gallons of water; fince which time neither the red fpider, nor ants (which alfo infefted it) have been feen, as he fays, in that hot-house. In the fifth paper, we have an account (with a plate) of a new-invented machine for cutting ftraw, for feeding horses, by James Pike, watchmaker, of Newtown Abbot, Devonshire. The machine is fimple in its conftruction; and by the atteftations, which accompany it, from those who had feen it work, it is faid to be decidedly preferable to the other machines that have been hitherto employed for that purpose. The fixth and seventh papers contain accounts of experiments made on drilling grain, by Mr. Cooke's patent drill-machine; which turn out much in favour of the practice of drilling, and tend to recommend the use of that machine. The first experiment is that of Mr. William Malcolm, of Kennington Nurfery, in Surry. Two acres were divided into three unequal parts, two of them of 80 rods, or half an acre each; and the third of 160 rods, or one acre. The first and the last divifions were sown with oats, drilled by Mr. Cooke's machine (width of the drill not specified); quantity of feed 34 bufhels. The middle divifion was fown the fame day with oats broad caft, and required 2 bushels of feeds. *This is the fame root which is recommended to public notice by Dr. Lettfom, under the name of Mangel Wurzel; for an account of which, fee our Review for Auguft laft, p. 166, where we gave our reafons for fuppofing the plant to be the Beta cicla of LINNE; which opinion is now confirmed by the concurrent tefimony of the Author of the present Memoir, and others. See alfo an account of the Paris Agricultural Society's Memoirs, in our prefent Appendix.; Produce Produce of 80 R. fown broad caft, was 31 bufhels.-Free produce 28 of 240 R. drilled, was 109 bushels. Free produce 105 which is equal to 35 bushels for 80 rods; fo that there is here 6 buthels and 7-12ths on half an acre, or 133 bushels on an acre in favour of the drill husbandry. The experiments of Mr. John Boote, of Athurfton, Warwickshire, with Mr. Cooke's drill, communicated in the next article, are upon a much larger scale. At wheat feedness,' fays Mr. Boote, in 1785, having purchased a machine, I drilled 80 acres with wheat, the promising appearance of which, in the spring of 1786, encouraged me to drill all my barley, being 120 acres ; alfo 60 acres of beans, 20 acres of peas, 28 acres of oats, and 60 acres of turnips; in all 368 acres: the result of the above experiments I have enclosed, having afcertained them with the greatest accuracy, by reaping and thrashing feparately, the produce of one land or ridge of each crop in a fair average part of each field, except the oats and turnips; the former were inadvertently omitted to be afcertained; the latter were mostly destroyed by the fly, as well as thofe that were sown broad caft. Refult of the Experiments above referred to. Stratford upon Avon, He adds-N. B. I have now growing one hundred and twenty acres of drilled wheat, of a very promifing appearance. Mr. Boote farther takes notice that he faved upwards of 150%. fterling in the article of feed, when compared with the price of what would have been commonly fown in broad caft; the whole of which fum he meant to have laid out on hoeing. Of an inferior quality, From From thefe experiments, and other obvious confiderations, it feems to be very evident, that the practice of planting feeds of grain at regular diftances in narrow drills, adapted to the nature of each particular plant, so as to admit at, the fame time of eradicating annual weeds by means of the hoe, and flocking the ground with juft as many plants of grain as it is properly able to fupport, would be highly beneficial to the farmer. The advantages, however, that will ultimately refult from this practice, cannot, at the beginning, be fully experienced. The feeds of many weeds retain their vegetative quality for a great number of years, while they are depofited in the earth at a depth improper for their germination. Thefe feeds, therefore, when they are turned up by the plough, will, fome of them, be placed at their proper germinating depth each feafon; fo that for many years, could every weed that vegetates be even entirely deftroyed, fresh weeds would ftill be produced upon the foil, and the neceffity of frequent hoeings will not be diminished. But fhould the weeds be prevented from coming to feed for feveral years, the feeds originally in the foil will in time come to be exhaufted, and the ground could then be kept perfectly clean, at a much smaller expence than before. This reafoning is entirely confirmed by the practice of gardeners: for it is found by experience that a garden, newly taken in from a corn field, if not trenched, so as to bury all the feed weeds, requires more weeding in one season, than it will require in fix, after it has been feveral years well kept, as a garden. Mr. Boote therefore has reafon on his fide, when he here proposes that no pofitive conclufions should be drawn between the advantages of this kind of drill husbandry and the broad caft, unlefs a fair comparative trial of the expence and profits of both kinds be continued on the fame fields, for feveral years. We beg leave, however, to remark, that we are far from wishing to recommend to the favour of our Readers the drill hufbandry, as practised by Mr. Tull, for the ordinary corn crops in this country; for this, we are fatisfied, cannot be attended with profit. Sowing grain in narrow drills, is indeed nothing more than a regular way of diftributing the feed at fuch diftances for each kind of grain, as experience fhall prove to be just sufficient for producing a full crop of that kind of grain, and at the fame time to admit the hoe, for eradicating the weeds, and loosening the earth. The great defideratum, hitherto, has been, to get a machine, properly calculated for diftributing the feeds regularly, at any diftance, and depth, that might be wanted; and we are not without hope, from the extenfive practice of Mr. Boote, that this defideratum may be now nearly obtained. If a drill machine can be found, which performs its bufinefs properly, the only important points that remain to be afcertained are the exact diftance |