32 



** the discovery he has made and divulg- 

 " ed to the public, will facilitate the 

 " goocT intentions of planters, to the 

 " essential advantage of the British em- 

 " pire." 



Indeed, as the author modestly asserts, 

 that the composition " seems to have the 

 " same effect on trees as a top-dressing of 

 " dung has on land* f we have nothing 

 left to be surprised at, but the astonishing 

 stupidity of persons of his own profession, 

 who are found, almost to a man, so ex- 

 tremely faithless, that they never willing- 

 ly adopt his practice ; nor does it appear, 



* Preface to the First Edition Upwards of 



thirty years ago, Baron Vanhake invented and adver- 

 tised a composition, a few pounds of which was to fer- 

 tilize, or act as a dunging for, an acre of land ; but 

 after nnaking a noise for a short time, and raising high 

 expectations among the credulous, it suddenly fell in- 

 to disgrace for a very trifling fault. It was found 



to be useless. The reader will make his own ap- 

 plication. 



