l8oo. Account of the Rev. Mr Dicljon. 439 



difcretlon of the farmer, who will repeat it when neceflary, 

 if he knows his own intereft. We fhall conclude our defence 

 of fallow, with an extra£l taken from p. 192. of the Survey 

 alluded to. " It is highly proper to he careful againfl adopting 

 the vifionary recommendations of modern theoriftsy ivho^ upon hypo- 

 thefes of their oivny hold up luild fy ferns of deli f ion ^ ivhich are apt 

 to mi/lead the credulous j and do great injury^* 



Account of the Rev. Mr Adam Dickson, extracted from the 

 IntroduElion to the " Hufbandry of the Ancients" 



Mr Dickson was a fon of the late Reverend Mr Andrew 

 Dickfon, minifter of Aberlady, in the county of Eaft Lothian. 

 He had a liberal education at the univerfity of Edinburgh ; 

 and, having a very promifmg genius for learning, was always 

 defigned for the church. His father, however, having a large 

 farm, he early turned his thoughts to agriculture ; and, in his 

 youth, pafling fome part of his time with the farmers of that 

 opulent county, who are many of them not unfit to converfe 

 with men of letters, he, from them, as well as from his own 

 obfervation, acquired the exa£l: knowledge of fafts, and of the 

 pra£tire of hufbandry. Being a man of a very lively appre- 

 henfion, of an ardent mind, and of a clear and found judge- 

 ment, he foon became an adept in any branch of fcience to 

 which he applied. 



Mr Dickfon was ordained minifter of Dunfe, in the (hire 

 of Bervi'ick, in the year 1750. As his fettlement had been 

 delayed for a confiderable time, on account of a law-fuit about 

 the legality of the prefentation, an oppofition to him was ftir- 

 red up in the parifh j but fuch was the ability, good fenfe, 

 and engaging temper of Mr Dickfon, and fuch the candour 

 and generofity of his conduct, that his moft fanguine oppo- 

 nents very foon became his greateft friends. 



Our author refided for twenty years in Berwickfhire, where 

 improvements in agriculture having been much more recent, 

 and the difficulties to be furmounted much greater than in 

 Eaft Lothian, he had occafion there to obferve the moft fpi- 

 rited exertions by the cultivators of land. This change of 

 fituation enlarged his views, and extended his knowledge, on 

 the fubje(5l of his favourite purfuit. 



In 



