132 HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE. Part I. 



though he adds, that in Scotland, the best husbandmen after a fallow take a crop of wheat ; after the 

 wheat, pease, then barley, and then oats ; and after that they fallow again. The want of enclosures was 

 still a matter of complaint. The ground continued to be cropped so long as it produced two seeds for one ; 

 the best farmers were contented with four seeds for one, which was more than the general produce. 



785. In 1165, a treatise on agriculture was published by the Rev. Adam Bicksqn, minister 

 of Dunse, in Berwickshire, which is decidedly the best work on tillage which has 

 appeared in the English language, and was and still is held in universal esteem among 

 the practical fkrmers of Scotland. 



786. J 1777, Lord ITaimes published The Gen^^??iaw Farmer, being an attempt to improve 

 agriculture by subjecting it to the test of rational principles. His lordship was a native 

 of Berwickshire ; and had been accustomed to farm in that country for several years, and 

 afterwards at Blair Drummond, near Stirling. This work was in part a compilation and 

 in part the result of his observation ; and was of essential service to the cause of agricul- 

 ture in Scotland. 



787. In 1778, appeared Wight's Present State of Husbandry in Scotland. This is a 

 valuable work ; but the volumes not appearing but at intervals of some years, it was of 

 less benefit than might have been expected. 



788. In 1783, Dr. Anderson published his Essays relating to agriculture and rural 

 affairs : a work of science and ingenuity, wloich did much good both in Scotland and 

 England. 



789. In 1800 appeared The Farmer" s Magazine ; a quarterly work, exclusively devoted 

 to agriculture and rural affairs ; and which has done more to enlighten both the proprietory 

 and tenantry of Scotland than any other book which has appeared. It was at first con- 

 ducted jointly by Robert Brown, farmer of Markle; and Robert Somerville, M. D. of 

 Haddington. Afterwards, on Dr. Somerville's death, by Brown alone; and subsequently, 

 on the latter gentleman's declining it, by Cleghorn, W. S., one of the most scientific agri- 

 culturists of Scotland. The frequent recurrence that will be made to The Farmer s 

 Magazine in the course of this work, will shew the high value which we set on it. 

 The Husbandry of Scotland is the next work deserving of notice in this sketch of Scottish 

 authors, published by Sir John Sinclair in 1810; and which may very properly 

 complete the series, as it fulfils in an able and complete manner what the title 



790. The rapid progress of agriculture in Britain is shown by nothing more clearly than 

 the great number of societies that have been lately formed ; one or more in almost every 

 county, for the diffusion of knowledge, and the encouragement of correct operations, and 

 beneficial discoveries. Among these, the Bath and West of England Society, established 

 in 1777, axidi the Highland Society ojf Scotland, in 1784, hold a conspicuous rank, and 

 the establishment of the Board of Agriculture, in 1793, ought to form a new era in the 

 history of the agriculture and rural economy of Britain. 



791. A professorship of agriculture was established in the university of Edinburgh, in 

 1790, and the professor, Dr. Andrew Coventry, is well known as a man of superior 

 qualifications for fulfilling its duties. 



792. Professorships of agriculture, and even of horticulture, or rather of culture in ge- 

 neral, are said to be partly provided for, and partly in contemplation, both in Oxford and 

 Cambridge. 



793. The rejwrts of the different counties, many of them surveyed a second time, and 

 now reprinted, according to an uniform plan, have been followed by the General Report 

 of the Agricultural State and Political Circumstances of Scotland ; and a similar work 

 for England was understood to be in the contemplation of the board. But the con- 

 tinuation of that institution was deemed unnecessary by parliament; and its annual 

 vote for its support being withdrawn, it ceased to exist in 1819. 



794. The Code of Agriculture, published in 1819, by Sir John Sinclair, may be con- 

 sidered as giving a succinct view of the most improved practices of British husbandry as 

 actually practised by professional farmers. It is a work which has already been translated 

 into several foreign languages, and passed through more than one edition in this 

 country. 



SuBSECT. 3. Of the Rise, Progress, and present State of Agriculture in Ireland. 



795. Of the agriculture of Ireland very little is known up to a recent period. "With a 

 soil singularly prolific in pasture, and rather humid for the easy management of grain, 

 it is probable that sheep and cattle would be the chief rural products for many centuries. 

 In the twelfth century and earlier, various religious establishments were founded, and 

 then it is most probable tillage on something like the Roman mode of culture would be 

 introduced. The monks, says O'Connor, fixed their habitations in deserts which they culti- 

 vated with their own hands, and rendered them the most delightful spots in the kingdom. 



796. During the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth centuries, the English were obliged 

 to suppress the numerous rebellions of their Irish subjects by war, and the forfeited estates 



