PREFACE. 



THE Author of this volume of " Essays on Agriculture," 

 the late THOMAS GISBORNE, of Yoxall Lodge, Staffordshire, 

 was born in 1787, and died in 1852. He was an extensive 

 landowner in the counties of Stafford and Derby ; he per- 

 sonally farmed a considerable acreage of arable and pasture 

 land, and was especially conversant with the dairy and with 

 cattle and sheep feeding. Mr. Gisborne was also well ac- 

 quainted with the agriculture of Scotland, both Lowland 

 and Highland. Few agriculturists of his day were more 

 generally known in their class ; few men, in public or 

 private life, were more beloved. His talents, his various 

 attainments, his warm heart and popular manners, his 

 ardent love of field sports, made him the delight of 

 numerous friends. A Member of the British House of 

 Commons for a quarter of a century, he was well known 

 as a " public man," and his speeches and pamphlets on 

 various subjects were numerous; but it is the purpose of 

 the present volume, simply to collect, in their entirety, 

 his valuable writings on Agriculture. 



The first three Essays were written by Mr. GISBORNE 

 in 1849 and 1850, and originally appeared in Nos. 

 CLXVIIL, CLXXL, .and CLXXIIL, of the Quarterly 

 Review. The article on Agricultural Drainage was sub- 

 sequently carefully revised by him, and separately published 

 by Mr. MURRAY, in 1851, passing rapidly through two 

 editions. 



The proofs of this first reprint were submitted by the 

 deceased Author to the further revision of his schoolfellow 



