48 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



one hundred years ago. His clerical instincts, however, do 

 crop out persistently, as at that early day Bible hints in 

 geology, cosmogony, &c., were taken in a literal sense. Re- 

 garding peat, he remarks as follows : " As to the formation, 

 original, or matter of which peat is produced, it is reasonably 

 supposed to be made of the wood which grew before the 

 flood." 



The " flood " to the old divines was a great event. He 

 says again, in deploring the state of knowledge then existing 

 among husbandmen, that the "only rules of husbandry that 

 I have met with I have found in the Bible." Rather an 

 unsatisfactory set of " rules " for farmers, as judged by the 

 light of the present day. Of fertilizers outside of " dung " 

 he has considerable knowledge. "Ashes," he says, "is 

 allowed on all hands to be some of the best dressins^ or 

 manure for land : it enriches much and lasts long ; hut the 

 misery is we can get hut little. It is a frequent saying, if we 

 could get a sufficiency of ashes, we could do well enough. 

 It takes a great deal of wood to make a little ashes. But 

 peat will yield abundance of ashes, and very excellent too." 

 With no methods of analysis by which the comparative value 

 of ashes could be positively ascertained, it is no matter of 

 wonder that the error should be entertained that peat-ashes 

 possessed a high value. We now know that they are almost 

 worthless as a manurial agent. 



The reverend divine advocates sowing seed early in the 

 morning, before sunrise, as, he observes, "it is agreeable to 

 reason that it should do good ; for the deios are impregnated 

 tvith nitrous salts, and is the principal thing which enriches 

 the ground." This is a remarkable statement ; for it proves 

 that at that early period, before the element nitrogen was 

 known to exist, observation had taught that the salts con- 

 taining nitrogen were useful to crops. He is sagacious 

 enough to predict the threshing-machine, and remarks " that 

 there is no doubt but what wheels could be so contrived as 

 to thresh out a great deal of grain in a day." 



Regarding the ploughing of land, he advocates strong 

 teams and thorough work. Quoting the passage 1 Kings 

 xix. 19, where it is stated that " Elisha was ploughing with 

 twelve yoke of oxen before him," he waxes eloquent, and 

 exclaims, ^^ This was a mighty team! It must have been a. 



