ADVERTISEMENT 



THE Society requested me to arrange, for republica- 

 tion in their memoirs, the contents of my little compilation 

 on PLAisTER OF PARIS, in 1797. I have endeavoured to col- 

 lect from various quarters of our country a series of facts oc- 

 curring since that period. I should have combined them with, 

 or engrafted them on, the facts then drawn together ; and 

 thus have formed a compendious account of all we now know 

 on the subject. But although I have been favoured by a few to 

 whom I had written, I have been generally unsuccessful. I 

 shall persevere in my endeavours ; and either wait 'till my 

 object is fully attained, or communicate, as I receive them, 

 the results of my inquiries. 



There is a most unfortunate indisposition in our fellow 

 citizens, to reduce to writing the necessary information re- 

 quired on agricultural subjects. Some are too busy, and some 

 too indolent. Dread of criticism operates on some ; and false 

 and reprehensible diffidence on others. There are few land- 

 holders who cultivate their own soil (as do most in this coun- 

 try) who cannot express their knowledge of facts sufficiently 

 clear in writing, on a subject to which they are more compe- 

 tent than literary theorists. No farmer is remote from some 

 well educated neighbour, who can write down and commu- 

 nicate the facts recited to him. It is therefore the more to 

 be lamented that any want of information on practical hus- 



