2oa Review ofDr Hunter'' s Georgical EJJays, May 



mifchief, efpecially to unexperienced agriculturills. A plain 

 praftical treatile upon the operative parts of huibandrj, is a de- 

 fideratum in agriculture ; but fuch would require to be executed 

 bj a man of I'cience and practice ; one who was capable of 

 viewing the management of every kind of foil with a compre- 

 henfive eye, and who avoided the phantom of theory, unlefg 

 fanctioned and fupported by the unerring tefl of fuccefsful ex- 



perience, 



N, 



Georgical EJJays, by A, Hunter, M. h. F. R. S, L. and E. 

 four volumes o&avo, Wiljon and Spence, Tork ; Mauman, 

 London; Conjiahle, Edinburgh. 1803, 



A COLLECTION, fuch as the one now before us, may be com- 

 pared to a mufeum or repofitory, wliere various articles are ftored 

 up for public fervice. People of different taftes may fmd commo- 

 dities calculated to fupply their refpedtivc wants, and where fuch 

 a variety is prefented, none need go away from the repofitory un- 

 fatisfied or unfupplied. 



It muft be confeffed, that it is very rare that compilations are 

 generally ufeful; nor need this excite wonder, for it requires 

 a moft judicious mind to felecl materials, and to feparate the 

 chaff from the found grain. Fortunately, upon the prefent occa- 

 iion, a gentleman of refpeclablc charafter and diftinguifhed abi- 

 lities has undertaken the labouring oar ; and we enter with plea- 

 fure upon an examination of the mafs of information he has pre- 

 fented. 



The mofl of our readers will have heard, that a volume of 

 Georgical Effays was publilhed by Dr flunter about thirty 

 years ago, being a feleclion from papers given in to the York 

 Agricultural Society. That volume is the bails of the prefent 

 publication. A confiderable number of the papers are fele6ted 

 from agricultural works lince publilhed, and we obferve that 

 not a few are ulhered into public notice for the lirft time. 



It can liardly be expected that all the articles of fuch a nume- 

 rous colle6tion are of equal celebrity; but we can with truth de- 

 clare, that, though of different merits, each is appropriate to the 

 defign of the work. We have little theory but what the acuteft 

 prafticc will fanftiori, and when fpeculation is indulged, it is en- 

 tered upon with diffidence, and executed without prefumpt'on. 

 A true phllofopher lays it down as a primary rule, that the fe- 

 crcts of nature are difficult to explore ; liencc the wifeff men are 



generally 



