10 TRACTS ON VARIOUS SUBJECTS, &c. 



SECTION II. 



Experiments in the Culture of Potatoes — Comparisons of Manures — extra- 

 ordinary Power of Guana, or Sea-foicl Dung , as a Top-dressing — Hints 

 to Proprietors of Islands and Rocks in Scotland, 



In a place which has, for many years, been almost wholly depen- 

 dent on foreign imports for the common necessaries of life, and 

 where neither commerce nor manufacture finds employment for 

 industry or exertion, there can be no duty more incumbent on 

 persons entrusted with its management, than a due attention to 

 those means that are the most likely to augment its internal 

 resources. 



From the earliest period of its establishment (in 1673) to the 

 present time, the most positive orders to favour and encourage 

 agriculture have been sent by the Honourable the Court of Direc- 

 tors. It is, therefore, in obedience to those repeated orders, that 

 I have endeavoured to discover the capabilities of the soil, and 

 the modes of cultivation the best suited to the circumstances of 

 this island. I have accordingly, in the Abstract of the Laws and 

 Ordinances, and in the papers relating to the goats, embraced 

 every occasion that offered of stating the results, and of introduc- 

 ing my opinions. I have also, I trust, proved, that immense 

 advantages would arise to the land-holders if they were to allot 

 a certain selected portion of their pasture lands to the culture of 

 corn and artificial grasses, to the planting of trees, and to the 

 introduction of hedge-rows. 



Those opinions being founded on a variety of experiments, and 

 the results having been most carefully ascertained, under my own 



