14 INTRODUCTION; 



nications of refpe^table and intelligent farmers, who have 

 made Agriculture their particular ftudy ; and who, in place 

 of amufing the public with opinions^ are able to bring for- 

 ward y^i7j-, which, under the i-^nCtionoi experience ^ can be im- 

 mediately adopted in practice. A want of attention to this 

 fundamental principle, has rendered the greateft part of what 

 are termed regular treatifes upon Agriculture ufelefs. Many 

 of thefe have been drawn up by individuals, who, from hav- 

 ing refided during the whole, or the greateft part of their 

 lives, in particular diflridls, have formed opinions, and imbib- 

 ed prejudices, in many refpefis hoftile to the caufe they pro- 

 fefs to promote. Such authors, in general, difcover more 

 anxiety for the fate of their own opinions, than for the ad- 

 vancement of knowledge ; and, in place of felefting fadls for 

 the bafis of their works, and, reafoning from thefe, their fo- 

 Licitude to form fyftems of their own, has led them to bend 

 fa£ts to theories, and involve themfelves in perplexity and 

 error* In that way, fociety, in place of being benefited by 

 their labours, is plagued and mifled by their controverfy j 

 and, inftead of a true pidure of the hufbandry, either of a 

 di{lri£t, or the kingdom at large, we meet with little more 

 than the opinions of the author, clogged with his prejudices, 

 and a laborious attempt to form a fyftem fuitable to thefe. 



To the genius of a few refpe6lable chara£lers we are in- 

 debted for a better fyftem, founded upon experiment and at- 

 tentive obfervation : a channel through which alone juft ideas 

 can be acquired, either upon this, or any other fubjeft. Ac- 

 cordingly, of late years, many of the fpeculative opinions, 

 with which we were formerly amufed, have given way to the 

 Hmple unerring truths taught by experience j and though 

 much labour and inveftigation ftill remain, we have the fa- 

 tisfa6lion of knowing, that the path hitherto traced is upon 

 folld ground •, and are enabled to look forward, with confi- 

 dence, to a period, (perhaps not a diftant one), when the fyf- 

 tem will be much more perfect, and our doubts lefs numer- 

 ous, upon many points of the firft importance to Agriculture. 

 That, however, is to be accompliflied, not by the propagation 

 of fanciful opinions, but by details of fuccefsful practice, and 



iii 



