15 



me to be in clanger of degenerating into 

 a mere weffinsr of the land. 



I have found most persons with whom 

 I have either conversed or corresponded 

 on the subject, though they have pro- 

 fessed to have read Boswell, Wright, 

 and others, impressed with not only ina- 

 dequate, but injurious ideas of the art: 

 one esteems all water under this manage- 

 ment equally efficacious; another ima- 

 gines, that more depends upon the nature 

 of the land, than on the quality of the 

 water ; another thinks, that the water is 

 to be used chiefly in spring and summer ; 

 another supposes it possible to make 

 great and extensive improvements by a 

 ver}^ small quantity of water ; and almost 

 every one expects something preternatu- 

 ral from this use of water in its pure ele- 

 c 2 mentary 



