1804. View cf f he Siinir.tion of Farmers i l^c. 3P7 



His elegant Effay on Green Crops, which he hns contrived to 

 make equ illy fpriirhtly and ufeful, has r:aif;'d very h.lgh our ex- 

 pe6buions of his new performance. 1 have not b^en nhle to 

 trace the pra(5>.lce farther than feme time between Henry IV. and 

 Elizabeth, thor.^jh I doubt not his refearches have fuccceded 

 better : — 



* And we Oiall feed like oxen at a flail, 

 The better cheriflied, fliil the nearer death. * 



Worcester — Henry IV. Part I. 



But I mufl be careful not to interfere with his undertakiniy, 

 and trult to his good nature to pardon me for recommending 

 to him to write with care, for his work will be read with atten- 

 tion. I can Hill point out papers written by him in the Weekly 

 Maorazine, thirty years ago. 



The improvements upon farm machinery, have been greater 

 and more rapid, than may perhaps appear at firft glance, to one 

 who has not turned his thoufijhts that way. It is natural that 

 they lliould efcape with a llight notice of a perfon continually 

 upon the fpot, and who faw them introduced gradually -, but at 

 my return, after an abfence of twenty-live years, they (Iruck me 

 with altoniihment. 



The Lothians have been fo long civilized, that no records to 

 which I have had accefs, nor the mod diligent inquiries, enable 

 me even to guefs how diftant the period is when the farmer's 

 daughters there carried the dung upon their backs to the fields. 

 I pretend not to fuch a ftock of knight-errantry, as my friend 

 Mr P****** has fo often difplayed, but confefs I wiih that I 

 eould fay the creels were not any where allowed to remain long 

 upon the backs of the dear creatures. Truth, however, o- 

 biiges me to tell, that the difgraceful pra£^ice has ihocked my 

 own eyefight, and is not yet entirely extinguifhed in fome re- 

 mote places of Scotland. One of the creels is now in my pof- 

 felTion ; and if you do me the honour to call any time you are in 

 t-iiis neighbourhood, I (liall very gladly (hew it to you, and am 

 far from averfe to a drawing of it being taken to adorn the next 

 il'umber of your Magazine. 



To Oiift the creels from the backs of women, to thofe of 

 horfes, appears now a natural and very evident ilep, and, no 

 doubt, originated in the feeling heart of fome gallant beau, 

 wounded at feeing his fweetheart fo vilely degraded. But the 

 next ftcp in the progrefs of improvement, the invention of the 

 Jleddy and making horfes draw inftead of carrying, is far lefs 

 obvious. I had for fcveral years, to ao purpofe, puzzled my 



braiii 



