1837] 



FARMER S' REGISTER. 



609 



notice, or by warrant before a justice of the peace, 

 for sunis not exceedin'^ twenty dollars, to recover 

 from delinquent stockholders the amount due from 

 them to the company, and in arrear, upon requisi- 

 tions regularly made, with legal interest thereon, 

 li'om the time when such arrears respectively 

 shall have fallen due, till paid, and costs — provided, 

 however, that no such proceeding shall be had 

 against any delinquent residing within the com- 

 monwealth, uniil thirty days' notice shall have 

 been given, by adverlisement stuck up at the door 

 of the court-house of his county or cor[)orati()n, on 

 some court day. This authority to be used at the 

 discretion of the couipany, rither before or after 

 they shall have sold the stock of the delinquent. 



6lh. Making such provisions as the president 

 and directors of the company may reconniiend lor 

 more effectually coUectmg the toils on the Kana- 

 wha River and tlie company's roads, and lor re- 

 gulating the rolls on those roads. 



3. Resolved, That the president and directors be 

 requested to cause the necessary exanfinations to 

 be made, for ascertaining at what point below the 

 falls of the Kanawha it will be most advantageous 

 to connect the rail road with the navigation of 

 that river; and that they be further requested to 

 combine with their report to a future meeting of 

 the stockholders, (he considerations upon which 

 tiie opinion of the board may be t'ounded. 



The Committee embraced in their report the tv^'o 

 first resolutions offered by Dr. Brockeubrough and 

 referred to them. 



The resolutions, and members of resolutions, re- 

 ported by the committee, were taken up separately 

 in succession, and adopted — some of them after 

 discussion, and the fifth member of the second re- 

 solution, after an unsuccessful motion for its amend- 

 ment. 



Mpssrs. Chapman Johnson, Richard Anderson 

 and John H. Cocke, were appointed to constitute 

 the committee called lor by the second resolution 

 above adopted. 



The committee then proceeded to the election of 

 officers for the ensuing year; whereupon, Joseph 

 C. Cabell, Est], was unanimously re-elected Pre- 

 sident, and Messrs. Sidney S. "Baxter, Richard 

 Sampson, John 11. Cocke, John Early, Huifh Ca- 

 perton, Charles Ellis and Thomas M. Bondurant, 

 directors. 



The fbllowinfr gentlemen were anpointed a 

 standing committee to examine the books, papers, 

 finances, &c. of the company, viz : John Ruther- 

 fiiord, Fleming James, Lewis Webb, Robert 

 Gwathmey, Nicholas Mills, Francis B. Deane, jr. 

 and David Anderson, jr. 



The Secretary's salary was raised to $1750. 



The meeting then adjourned sine die. 



From the Rritish Quartprly Journal of Agriculture. 



EXTRACTS FROM A BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR 

 OF SIR JOHN SINCLAIR. 



[Continued from No. 3.] 



In an essay like the present, we cannot overlook 

 Sir John Sinclair's exertions to bring into public 

 use the great discoveries in the art of draining 

 land, made by Mr. Joseph Elkington, a War- 

 wickshire farmer. Yet, although this system ori- 

 ginated with that singular person, he was, in a 

 great measure, unable to give to the world any 



Vol. lV-77 



very connected or distinct account of it ; and, to 

 obviate the dilficulties arising fi-om that circum- 

 stance. Sir John recommended Mr. John John- 

 stone, an intelligent land-surveyor, to the atten- 

 tion of the Board of Agriculture, as a gentleman 

 amply qualified, not only to fake plans of his dif- 

 ferent operations, but io give exj)lanatious of 

 them. 



Mr. Johnstone was accordingly nominated by 

 the board, to accompany Mr. Elkington on a sur- 

 vey of the (lilli»rent draiiinses he had accomplish- 

 ed in several of ihe Entrlish counties, in order that 

 a proper report miuhl be drawn up of the princi- 

 ples on which his operations were founded, as well 

 as practical details of the mode in which these 

 were executed. The result was the publication of 

 a systematic treatise on the theory and practice of 

 draining land, which has become of standard in- 

 fluence on the subject of which it treats, and of 

 which three editions have ap|)eared — the first in 

 1797, the second in 1801, and the third last year, 

 revised and enriched with so many valuable addi- 

 tions as almost to render it a new work.* In this 

 way a complete account of Elkington's system 

 was communicated to the public, and thousands 

 enabled to put it into practice, who, for want of 

 proper information, might long have remained ig- 

 norant alike of its principles, or their importance. 

 To the credit of Sir John Sinclair it should also be 

 told, that when, in 1799, the private affairs of Mr. 

 Elkington had fallen into disorder, he endeavored 

 to procure for him a parliamentary orrant of £1000, 

 in consideration of the benefits which his discov- 

 eries had conferred on agriculture. In this, after 

 some exertion, he succeeded, and was in a great 

 means the instrument of relieving the distresses of 

 that ingenious and useful man. 



It should also be remembered, that it was at the 

 suggestion of Sir John, that the once overpraised, 

 but now as much undervalued Dr. Darwin, the 

 author of the Zoonumia, Botanic Garden, and 

 Temple of Nature, was induced to undertake a 

 work on practicnl agriculture. Nor can it be de- 

 nied that the Phytolofria, or Philosophy of Agri- 

 culture and Gardening — although, like the lectures 

 of Sir Humphry Davy, of too abstract a descrip- 

 tion to be of general practical adaptation, abounds 

 with useful observations and ingenious hints, 

 whereof Ihe recommendation of bone-dust as a 

 manure should not be overlooked.! It was dedi- 



* The reader is particularly recommended to tile pe- 

 rusal of Mr. Johstone's work in its improved state, as 

 beinsi; tlie best and most complete work on the subject 

 of draining, which has been yet given to the world. 

 For a more detailed opinion on this subject, we need 

 only refer to the Number of this Journal for Septem- 

 ber last, in which an attempt has been made to lay its 

 merits before the public. 



In a letter to Charles Gordon, Esq., Secretary to the 

 Highland and Agricultural Society, dated January 10, 

 18.35, Sir John Sinclair says, " I am very glad that Mr. 

 John Johnstone, land-surveyor, has jjublished another 

 edition of his treatise on draining land. J t is by far the 

 best work on that subject that has ever been pr'nted, 

 and does great credit to the author's talents, and exten- 

 sive knowledge of the stdiject. I hope, therefon;, that 

 the society will take copies of it, and will recomnitad 

 it in the strongest manner to the atfiition, not only of 

 its own members, but also to those socities at home and 

 abroad with whom it is in correspondence." 



t The first notice of the employment of bones as a 

 manure was made in Dr. Hunter's Georgical Essays 



