DESCRIPTION OF a MOULD-BOARD. 313 

 No. XXXVIII. 



T'be defer} pt ion of a Mould-board of the leajl rcfiflcjice, and of 

 the eafieli and moft certain conjlruSlion^ taken from a letter 

 to Sir fohn Sinclair, Prcfdent of the board of agriculture 

 at London. 



Philadelphia, March 23, 1798. 

 Dear Sir, 

 Read MayT have to acknowlcdgc the receipt of your two fa- 

 4, 1798- X vours of June 21, and July 15, and of feveral 

 feparate parcels containing the agricultural reports. Thefe 

 now form a great inafs of information on a fubje£t, of all 

 in the world, the moft: interefting to man : for none but the 

 hufbandman makes any thing for him to eat ; and he who 

 can double his food, as your exertions bid fair to do, de- 

 ferves to rank, among his benefactors, next after his Crea- 

 tor. Among fo many reports of tranfccndent merit, one is 

 unwilling to diftinguilh particulars. Yet the application of 

 the new chemift:ry, to the fubjedl of manures, the difcuflion 

 of the queftion on the fize of farms, the treatife on the po- 

 tatoe, from their univerfality have an advantage in other 

 countries over thofe which are topographical. The work 

 which fhall be formed, as the refult of the whole, we fhall 

 expeCl with impatience. 



Permit me, through you, to make here my acknowledg- 

 ments to the board of agriculture for the honour they have 

 been pleafed to confer on me by, affociating me to their in- 

 flitution. In love for the art, I am truly their alfociate : 

 but events have controuled my predilection for its pradice, 

 and denied to me that uninterrupted attention, which alone 

 can enable us to advance in it with a fure ftep. Perhaps I 

 may find opportunities of being ufeful to you as a centinel 

 at an outpoft, by conveying intelligence of whatever may 

 occur here new and interefting to agriculture. This duty I 

 Diall perform with pleafure, as well in refpedful return for the 

 T t notice 



