HORTUS GRAMINEUS WOBH RN EN SIS. 295 



of practical facts ; and he considered himself bound to de- 

 tail every circumstance of soil, situation, and season, which 

 he has done with the utmost faithfulness. 



As practical men in general have very rarely either time 

 or opportunity to make such trials as have been made by the 

 late Mr. Sinclair, the results which he has recorded, will 

 long continue to be regarded as a most useful portion of 

 agricultural knowledge. His facts and conclusions will al- 

 ways be a guide to the farmer, as well in the choice of his 

 seeds, as in the preparation of his land for their reception. 

 Because, it was not only the facilities allowed him in the 

 prosecution of his chemical trials, and the high scientific 

 advice he received during the execution ; nor was it from the 

 necessarily contracted trials made in the grass garden, on 

 which he has founded his conclusions ; but from the actual 

 practical proceedings on a great scale on the Park Farm, 

 conducted by the late Mr. Wilson, one of the first agricul- 

 turists of the kingdom. 



Thus, while our author was experimenting in the garden 

 and laboratory, similar processes were going on in the fields; 

 and the aggregate results determined the inferences to be 

 drawn from the whole, as set forth in the previous sections 

 of the work. It is indeed the accounts of these field opera- 

 tions which constitute the chief value of this vokime, and 

 which, for the management of grass and pasture land, will 

 always be considered a first authority on this branch of 

 agriculture. 



The experiments of the author are particularly useful in 

 another point of view : — Long before these trials were made, 

 €xperie?ice (that grand and infallible teacher, especially in the 

 rude and simple business of husbandry) had identified cer- 

 tain plants, some of which were British, others foreign, as 

 being particularly relished by domesticated cattle. These 

 plants were slowly introduced into cultivation, such as 

 lucern, sainfoin, tares, clover, ray-grass, &,c. These 

 were among the first wild plants which were reclaimed 

 from the wastes ; and certain natural pastures were famous 

 for fattening properties ; which, as soon as noticed, was 



