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FARMERS' REGISTER— AGRICULTURAL JOURNALS. 



fond to see agriculture reduced to something; like 

 a system, and like medicine and other sciences, 

 have its theory and its practice, its botanical names. 

 Its technical language, &c.; but not all theory and 

 no practice. We need a reformer, sir, and a re- 

 formation in agricultural science, such as Bacon 

 was, and sucli as he effected in natural i)hilnsophy: 

 who after the world had been bewildered, and I 

 might add bewitched, by vain speculation for 

 centuries, substituted experimental, in the room of 

 speculative philosophy; and taught mankind, that 

 observation and experiment were the great Ibun- 

 tains of human knowledge: and I know of no 

 other means better calculated at present of effect- 

 ing this change among us, than you and your 

 Register, to which all should endeavor equally to 

 contribute, how feeble soever their eflbrts and hum- 

 ble their attainments, if they wish it to live to a 

 good old age. 



There is another feature of the Register with 

 which I am remarkably well pleased; that is, its 

 passing by the imperl'eclions of style and lan- 

 guage, and |)ublishing useful matter, from what- 

 soever quarter it may come. Writing, sir, is a 

 troublesome thing to many of us, and authors are 

 something like sparrows, they are ever dreading 

 the hawk-eye of the critic; and if we are to write, 

 then scratch out and write again — look in the dic- 

 tionary — ransa(;k our imaginations for images, to 

 write about common sense matters; then revise 

 and correct, &c. — we presently become weary, 

 and find not a little of our time slipping away. 

 But if we can only give you the matter, without 

 much regard to the manner — the chaos, and let 

 you make a world of it — }-ou will hear from some 

 of your friends a iitde oftener. I have little doubt, 

 that there is a vast deal of sound and useful know- 

 ledge, eup]}ressed among the best inlbrmed and 

 practical firmers of 3'our subscribers, for fear of 

 meeting with the eye of the critic where the great 

 mass of malterlies, which is to feed the Register 

 and keep it alive; and where we must look chiefly 

 for su|;port of the practice of agriculture. This is 

 its strong hold; the most elegant writers are not 

 always the most practical farmers; on the contrary, 

 we are too often, by attempting a pretty style, or 

 at least a studied one, betrayed into povert3','and 

 sometimes even into entire loss of thought. I do 

 not pretend to say that these two qualities ma3- 

 not be admirably combined, as they are by some 

 of your correspondents. We like to sec good 

 language, as well as botanical names and techni- 

 cal words introduced into agricultural instruction; 

 for it could be wished that agriculture like cherais- 

 trj% had its technical language, that the same 

 words were always used to convey the san)e ideas, 

 and its language was not so vague and indefinite, 

 sometimes using one word (as "ii:\llow") to convey 

 severaUUfferent ideas, and several words to convey 

 the same idea. But as each one has words and 

 phrases peculiar to himself, in this infant branch, 

 we wish those who first introduced them, would 

 explain themselves to simple and plain farmers, 

 fiir actually there are som:>, who write so philoso- 

 phically and learnedly about common matters, 

 that at first it appears to be something the world 

 never saw, and when we come to find it out, it is 

 something we have been used to all our lives. 

 Simple subjects, says a good author, shovdd be 

 treated with simple words, and we ought not to 

 "hedge around plain and .simple matters with hard 



words, accumulated distinctions, ostentatious learn- 

 ing, and distiuisitions that produce no conviction." 

 The cultivation of different crops, and the variety 

 of pursuits among planters, fiirmers, and graziers, 

 &c., living at a distance from each other, in dif- 

 ferent climates, and under different circumstances, 

 in countries at different stages of improvement, 

 introduce among them, in the extensive subject of 

 agriculture, a certain slang of words and phrases, 

 that are not always understood by their brethren 

 pursuing a simple branch, and liviiig in a different 

 county, and therefore needing exjilanation, that 

 others should be benefited by their remarks. And 

 here, by the b}', is one excellent characteristic of the 

 Register, it appears to be better acquainted with 

 our pursuits, and manners, and customs, and while 

 we are reading it, we seem to be reading about 

 our neighbors. 



There is still another feature which I cannot 

 forbear to commend, and that is, the illustration of 

 subjects by engravings, &c., which are not easily 

 done by words. There are subjects, it is well 

 known, such as those that treat of implements of 

 husbandry, machinery, accounts of animals, &c., 

 of v/hich all the verbal description in the world, 

 would fail to give us a proper idea; in such cases, 

 a simple drawing would aid the understanding 

 more than volumes of words on the subject; be- 

 sides saving a good deal of room. The admirable 

 portraits you have given us in No. IV, is an ex- 

 ample of this, a single glance at which, will give 

 us a better idea of the qualities of a good bull or 

 cow, than folios on the subject. "Mr. Locke 

 (says Goldsmith) with his usual good sense, has 

 observed, that a drawing of the animal taken from 

 life, is one of the best methods of advancing nat- 

 ural history; and yet most of our modern system- 

 atic writers, are content rather with describing. 

 Descriptions (continues the last author) no doubt 

 will go some way towards giving an idea of the 

 figure, but they are certainly much the longest 

 way about, and as they are usually managed, 

 much the most obscure. In a drawing, we can at 

 a single glance gather more instruction, than by a 

 day's painful investigation of methodical systems, 

 where we are told the proijortions with great exact- 

 ness, and yet remain ignorant of the totalitj^. In 

 fact, this methcHl of describing all things, is a 

 fault that has infested many of our books that 

 treat on the meaner arts for the last age. They 

 attempt to teach by words, what is only to be learnt 

 by practice and inspection. Most of our diction- 

 aries and bodies of arts and sciences are guilty of 

 this error. Suppose, for instance, it be required to 

 mention the manner of making shoes, it is plain 

 that all the verbal instruction in the world, will 

 never give an adequate idea of this humble art, or 

 teach a man to become a shoemaker. A day or 

 two in a shoemaker's shop, will answer the end 

 better than a whole folio of hisiruction, which only 

 seems to opp.ress the learner with the weight of 

 its pretended importance: we have lately seen a 

 laborious work carried on at Paris, with this only 

 intent, of teaching all the arts by description; how- 

 ever, the derdgn at first blush seems to be ill con- 

 sidered, and it is ])robable, that very ihw advan- 

 tao-es will arise from so laborious an undertaking. 

 With regard to the descriptions in natural history, 

 these without all question, under the du'cction of 

 goo;! sense, are necessary, but still they should be 

 kept within jiroper boLUids; and wlien a thing may 



