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268

Prediction relative to Washington.

unequivocal manner, exprefs the idea that Plutarch, that he did not believe the

the moon was inhabited.

Μέσα, το δ' αλλην γαιαν απείρατον, ην τε σεληνην

̓Αθανατοι πλήζεσιν, ἐπιχθένιος δε τε Μηνην, Η πολλ ̓ ὄρει έχει, πολλ' αςία, πολλά μέλαθρα.

Anaxagoras thought precifely in the fame manner, and this fentiment received

additional confirmation from the opinion of Pythagoras, who improved not only aftronomy and mathematics, but every other branch of philofophy. Plutarch de placit. philo. 1. 2. c. 30, fays, * Οι Πυθαγόρειοι γεώδη φαινεσθαι την Σεληνην, δια το περιοικεῖσθαι ταυτήν, καθα πες την παρ' ημίν γην, μέζοσι ζώοις, και Φυτοις καλλισιν τ. It is ridiculous to multiply quotations, more than are fufficient to prove, that this opinion was extremely common among the ancient Greek philofophers. After the death of Alexander the Great, a celebrated fchool was established at Alexandria, under the aufpices of Ptolemy Philadelphus; Timocharis,and Aryftillus, were the first who cultivated aftronomical refearch in this fchool. Their care and diligence in obfervation were infinitely greater than any of their predeceffors had ever ftudied and obferved with. Armillas, or fpheres were erected, and the science advanced rapidly. Archimedes determined the diftance of the moon from the earth, and the diftance of the planets from the moon. Eudoxus, a cotemporary of Ariftotle, believed the diameter of the moon to be nine times lefs than that of the fun. Ptolemy informs us, that Hipparchus difcovered the anticipation of the moon's nodes, and the eccentricity of her orbit. Democritus, who visited the priests of Egypt, and perhaps penetrated into India and Ethiopia, imagined that the fpots of the moon were fhades, formed by the heights of its mountains. "Stobaus Eclog. Phyf." lib. 1. p. 60, particularly and clearly mentions this fentiment, which Democritus held. Δημοκρίτος αποσκίασμα τι τῶν υψηλών ἐν αὐτῇ μερῶν, ἀνακη αυτην γας έχειν και

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moon had any humidity, vapour, or exhalation *. This, among the moderns, is the grand objection to the moon's being

inhabited.

I leave it, Sir, to any of your learned correfpondents, to determine, whether it is probable that the moderus, unaided by telescopes, &c. would ever have advanced fo far as the ancients. Undoubtedly, at prefent, the nature of the ftars, and the whole planetary fyftem, is better underftood than it was in the times of Ptolemy and Hipparchus. I am, Sir, your humble fervant, W.D.

To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine.

A

SIR,

S your Magazine is a repofitory for many little articles of knowledge, which otherwife might have been configned to oblivion-I offer you for infertion the following circumftance relative to the illuftrious George Washington, late prefident of the United States.

A printed difcourfe was recently fhewn me by an intelligent friend, entitled, Religion and Patriotifm, or the conflituents "of a good foldier; preached to captain "Overton's independant company of volun"teers, raifidin Hanover County, Virginia, "August 17th, 1755, by Samuel Davies. About the middle of this fermon, the preacher expatiates on the patriotism of the Americans difplayed in the war, then fubfitting betwixt them and the Indians. But though the Americans, it seems, had fought valiantly, yet ftill greater exertions were deemed requifite for the final decifion of the conteft. Accordingly the orator ftrives to inflame the zeal of his countrymen, by fpecifying the names of those heroes who had already diftinguished themflves by their activity. And here occurs the name of the celebrated Washington, accompanied with a fhort note refpecting him, apparently dictated in the spirit of prophecy. The preacher's words are thefe: "As a remarkable inftance of this, (patriotifin) I may point out to the public that bercic youth COLONEL WASHING TON, whom I cannot but hope providence has hitherto preferved in fo fignal a manner for fome important fervice to his country.”

* Η που τοις επί της Σελήνης, εἰκός ἐς δώδεκα δερμιάς υπομένει» στις έκαςε κατα μήνα : and again a few lines after ; πνεύματα γε μην και νέφη και ἔμόξες, àμnx¤vor sxãi diawzOñiai.

Plat. t. 2. F. 938.
I fall

On the Culture of Waste Lands.

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laft,

fenfible and well-intentioned letter on the
Culture of Waste Lands, which is figned
A Liverpoolian. I entirely concur in
opinion with your correfpondent; that
the cultivation of our wafte lands is one
of the most important means which re-
main to be employed for the improvement
of the national wealth of Great Britain.
Some of his facts, however, appcar to me
to be stated with a certain degree of in.
correctness; and his principal fuggeftion
I take to be rather too haftily hazarded.
You will, therefore, oblige me, by having
the goodness to fubmit the following
confiderations upon this interesting agri-,
cultural fubject, to him, and to your
readers.

1. When we fpeak, in Great Britain, of Waste Lands, it is not to be understood, that there is any land in the island, which, if not covered by stagnant water, or exhibiting, at the furface, nothing but bare rock, can deferve to be regarded, as abfolutely wafte. Even our morales, where thefe are not abfolutely inaccefilble to cattle, yield graffes which both cows and fheep crop with remarkable avidity. Our bleakeft moors afford excellent paftare for fheep.. Goats clamber among the cliffs of our highest mountains; and these find alpine plants which are to them peculiarly grateful. There is no land, either in Scotland or England, which has its furface at all covered with herbage, that ought not to afford at leaft fixpence, an acre, in the year, to the landlord, if it be favourably fituate in regard to markets, that may not yield at leaft half-a-crown a year, for each acre, to a fkilful and industrious tenant,

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2. In very many inftances, in which lands remain very much in the state of wales, this is owing, either to their lying in unfavourable fituations, remote from the means of improvement, and from markets, at which the produce might be fold, or to their lying, on the contrary, in fituations on the lea-coast, and fometimes in the vicinity of great cities, where the industry of the people is called entirely away, to be employed upon more flattering objects.

3. In other inftances, lands are retainedin a comparatively wafte ftate, either as commons belonging to incorporations, or as chaces referved for the amusement of great landholders. But, that proportion of the territory of the island, which is thus, of defign, kept in a fort of wafte condition, is much finaller than that of by natural has which the improvement has been prevented

4. Of all thofe obftacles, which have oppofed the cultivation of our most barren lands, the moft powerful has had, and ftill has, its existence in the ignorance and the prejudices of the farmers and their labourers. Agriculture, and all the arts of husbandry, have hitherto been commonly taught, in Britain, by tradition alone. Rural economy has never yet been reduced to any thing like a fyftem of fcientific principles affording a foundation to rules by which its practice, as an art, might be regulated. In every different part of the country, the diverfities in the modes of hufbandry, are, not such as the diverfity of local circumstances alone recommends, but fuch as accident has introduced, in ancient times. The old Anglo-Saxon implements of the feventh and eighth centuries, are still used, almost without improvement or variation of form, throughout the greater number of the farms in the ifland. The most abfurd practices of hufbandry prevail, merely because they have prevailed. Too many of our farmers know no other ratio of their plans of farming, than that the fame were followed by their fathers, their grand-fathers, and their great-grandfathers. Their prejudices are in the direct proportion of their ignorance. That ground which has been once pronounced not arable, they hold almoft as religioufly facred from the plough, as the Druids of old could hold their inmost and most mysterious groves.

5. Notwithstanding these powerful obftacles, very great progrefs has, at length, begun to be made in the improvement of

lands,

270

Plans for the Cultivation of Wafte Lands,

lands, which were once accounted to be invincibly barren. Multiplying population has produced a neceffity for new inclofures, new fubdivifions of fields, extended tillage. Augmented wealth, luxury becoming continually more fumptuous, tafte more just, more capricioully fickle, more magnificent in its defigns; have, in the formation of new ornamented grounds, brought vaft tracts of territory into a ftate of rich cultivation, which were, before, barren and neglected. All thefe means have concurred to enlarge our domestic market for the produce of lands improved by husbandry; and of confequence, to promote their improvement. The diffufion of knowledge throughout the land, and the encreafing application of fcience to the improvement of every one of the ufeful arts; has also begun at length to lend its powerful aid towards the advancement of agriculture; and has fuggefted various means of the most effential utility, for reducing wafte grounds under profitable cultivation. For the ufe of all the arts in general, our roads and canals have been, within thefe laft thirty years, prodigioufly improved, extended, multiplied: And this opening up of the country, has, in the most eminent degree, contributed to refcue all its parts from defolation. I know not, if any direct measures employed for the fertilization of our more barren lands, could have, within the fame time, fo effectually atchieved their purpose, as have thofe natural and indirect means here enumerated.

not nine-tenths of all the great projects, of governments for the accomplishment of fudden and extenfive improvements in industry and manners been unavoidably defeated, by disadvantages infeparable from their own nature? The plan of Brafchi, the last of the Popes, for draining the Campagna di Roma; that of a Spani minifter for peopling and cultivating the Siena Morena by the introduction of a German colony; that of the Scottish Trustees, forty years fince, for improving the forfeited eftates. Were not these all great fchemes, not unlike to this which is propofed by your correfpondent; and which were fruftrated chiefly by that management which became peculiar to them, as being the fchemes of minifters and of government? Let any one but enter, in imagination, into all those circumftances of management, which would neceffarily attend the execution of your correfpondent's project; the influence it would have upon the price of land and on fales, the partialities which might be exercifed in parcelling out the little fields, the jealoufies which would be excited among all the candidates for the purchases, the injuries which the prefent proprietors would, in a thousand inftances, fuftain,' from being forced to fell, even at any price, that which they rather defired to referve: And he will eafily be convinced,' that there could be nothing much more unwife, than the adopting of fuch a plan of improvement as that proposed by your correfpondent!

6. I cannot but think, that a moment's reflection would induce your enlightened correspondent to fee the impropriety of any plan which should legally authorife government to purchase and then parcel out, anew, our prefent wafle lands. It can never be advifeable to put into the hands of government any powers, fave thofe of providing for cur immediate national defence, of maintaining public order, by the adminiftration of diftributive. juftice, of levying, under a proper fan&tion, means for the neceffery public expence, and of giving the watchword, if poffible, to the nation, in regard to whatever can promote the general welfare. Is not our own government invested, at prefent, by the unavoidable exigency of circumftances, with, perhaps, too much power over private life and property? Is it not univerfally known, that, wherever governments have defcended into tco particular an interference in the general economy of the national industry, this economy has been always deranged and injured? Have

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7. But, how, then, profecute this improvement to its due point of perfection?

Extend, repair, multiply your roads and canals, till, by means of them, the molt diftant parts of the country fhall be brought virtually nearer together; and the mutual communication between its provinces, which are mutually the moft remote, fhall be eafy, almost as if they were but different streets of the fame great town.

Cherish, with particular care, thofe arts which work up for exportation the products of agriculture. Such are thofe of the brewer, the diftiller, the maker of ftarch and hair-powder, befide all our other manufactures which demand labourers, that must be fed from the produce of our own land.

Cultivate commerce, manufactures, and agriculture, as reciprocally conducive to one another's profperity. But, wherever the interefts of our manufactures interfere

with

Lethington Houfe.

with thofe of our commerce, give the preference to the former: Wherever the interests of our agriculture clafh with thofe of our manufactures, prefer thofe of agriculture.

Patronize every ingenious and diligent effort to apply the principles of fcience to the improvement of rural œconomy : And endeavour to provide manuals of agricultural rules and principles, fufficiently fimple and popular, fuch as may make every farmer at once an able philofopher and a confummate artist in all that belongs to husbandry.

Let every landholder let out his eftate under good improving leafes: And let him fet himself an example of prudent

271

Let the

endeavours to improve fome few acres of fuch grounds, fuch as may be worthy of the imitation of his tenants. landlord's improvements be so conducted, that their profitablenefs may be undeniably evinced to the farmers whom he withes to imitate them.

Follow nature, or even lead her; but attempt not to drive or drag her. Above all, avoid thofe hafty projects which tend to bring all improvement into difgrace.

It is hardly to be conceived, by thofe who have not obferved, how much ourwafte lands have been brought under culture, fince the year 1794. I am, Sir, your's, Dumfries, March 5, 1798.

LETHINGTON HOUSE.

AGRICOLA

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4

272

Mr. Tuke on Jowing Grafs Seeds, &c.

ftrong land, and find it answer much bet ter than fowing them with corn: and there is a very evident fuperiority in favour of that practice, when compared with that of fowing them with corn. The method is to fow them as early in the fpring as the land can be made fit; the tops of the weeds which may grow amongst them are mown off twice in the courfe of fummer, and the land rolled after each mowing; by autumn, if the feafon has been tolerably favourable, a rich, luxuriant pafture is produced."

Although the above method is well adapted to ftrong land, an improvement may be made upon it, by fowing along with the grafs feeds one bufhel of tares or vetches. Where this is practifed, the crops fhould be mown for hay as foon as the vetches are got well into flower; by this method the produce mown is rendered valuable, but in the former cafe it is of very little value, rarely worth the expence of cutting. The feeds thus having a free admiffion of air, will fpread, and get ftrength faft, and the tares fpringing again, will, with the feeds, form, in a fhort time, a mofl excellent pafture for fheep.

It is a fettled principle with me, that the land cannot be too rich when fown with grafs feeds; for the richer the land is, the more ftock the feeds will carry, and the stock confequently leave a larger quantity of manure, and thus increase its fertility in almoft an arithmetical progreffion; and when the field is again ploughed out, it will be in a state to produce the more plentiful crops of corn. On the other hand, if land be fown down poor, it carries little stock, remains poor as long as it lies in grafs, and when ploughed out, will fearce clear expences.

It was from reafoning in this manner, that I was led to fow grafs feeds without corn; which I have done on a winter and fpring fallow limed, as well as the fame kind of fallow manured; and alfo on land well manured, which had been cropped the preceding year with potatoes: the two laft have answered the beft. My foil being a light fand, I preferred fowing fomething along with the grafs feeds, that would foon make a good theep pafture; I therefore fowed one half peck of rape feed per acre along with the grafs feeds; as foon as it got a pretty good leaf, I turned in fuch a flock of fheep as I thought would eat it as fast as it grew; by which management, the rape affords a fhelter for the young feeds, and the fheep, at the fame time that they are eating the rape, and fastening the foil to the roots of the

feeds, are greatly enriching the land by the manure they leave. The laft fummer I fowed fome tares instead of rape, at the rate of one bufhel per acre, along with the grafs feeds, upon land which had been cropped with potatoes the year before; as foon as the tares had got about ancle deep, I turned in fome sheep; but I foon found it almoft impoffible to keep it down with the stock, and at this time it is as beautiful a piece of fwarth as I ever faw.

I find it the best practice, not to fow the feeds until a month or fix weeks after the lait ploughing; in the fore part of that time, the land fhould be manured, if neceflary, with fhort manure; and repeated opportunities taken, in dry weather, to harrow it well, and it should be once rolled; by thefe means, the weeds are destroyed, the land gets a confiderable degree of firmnefs, the manure is well mixed with the foil, which lies within reach of the roots of the grafs, and the feeds lie at a more equal depth than when the land is frefh ploughed, if any weeds fhould afterwards appear, care should be taken to extirpate them.

The feeds per acre I fhould recommend to be fown on light, or loamy foils, are ten pounds of trefoil, fix pounds of white clover, four pounds of red clover, and fix bufhels of hay feeds, if the latter can be depended upon to be of good kinds, and without a mixture of any thing prejudicial; but this is rarely to be met with: for want of good hay feeds, I recommend one bufhel of rye grass; and even if hay feeds are ufed, I fhould mix one peck of rye grafs with them, unless a confiderable quantity of rye grafs appears contained among them, which rarely happens.

Rye grafs, if properly managed in fpring, by being kept well eat down, is valuable grafs. JOHN TUKE.

Lingcroft (near York), 27th of 3d Month, 1798.

To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine.

SIR,

THE

HE high price of gall-nuts, and the fcarcity as well as dearnefs, of oakbark, being frequently fubjects of complaint among thofe who use thefe ingredients in their refpective employments; and the peculiarly useful art of tanning, and the dying of various articles of manufacture, depending, for their perfection, on the highly aftringent qualities of the two above named fubftances; many other fubftances have been applied

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