[ 3 1 



nbflird and unneceflary* By thi6 means the fubjdcT: 

 is only imperfe&ly inveftigated, and uncertainty 

 pervades every department of it. 



In compliance with common cuftom, by expe- 

 rience I here mean thofe general obfervations, col- 

 lected from an extenfive courfe of practice, which, by 

 frequently recurring, have made a deep and lading 

 impreflion on the mind ; and by experiment, I mean 

 thofc fpecial trials that have been made to afcertain 

 particular fads with accuracy. In the firft cafe, 

 fads are admitted as proved by the frequency of 

 their recurrence, and the fuppofed notoriety of their 

 correfpondence with each other, without being fub- 

 je&ed to any other criterion of accuracy but a ge- 

 neral recollection of their frequency and univerfality. 

 In the laft cafe, like mathematical truths, nothing is 

 admitted till it be clearly proved. Upon a fair in- 

 veftigation it will appear that a practical farmer, in 

 different circumftances, mud fometimes place reli- 

 ance on the one, and fometimes on the other of thefe 

 two modes of acquiring knowledge ; and that with- 

 out the aid of both, he never can underftand his bu- 

 finefs compleatly. 



The bufinefs of a practical farmer naturally di- 

 vides itfelf into two branches. One that embraces 

 B 2 the 



