AGR 



AGR 





money of lean stock for fatting beasts. 

 Amidst all this minuteness and complexi- 

 ty of account, order must be produced. 

 The cattle, cows, and sheep, have turnips, 

 with respect to which the estimate of 

 them must be made, not at what they cost, 

 but ac what they would sell for eaten oft* 

 the field, as they cost more than the lat- 

 ter price, and were intended to ntpay in 

 the crops for which they prepare. The 

 books shouldbe every year balanced,about 

 the season at which the farm was entered 

 upon ; and, to avoid arbitrary valuation, 

 the old year's accounts must be continu- 

 ed open considerably after the new ones 

 have commenced, till the fatting- beasts 

 and the corn are sold, and those points 

 decided on \v hich the profit or loss of tne 

 former year depended. By these means 

 conjectures may be, in a great degree, 

 preciuded, but not altogether, as these 

 must extend to the estimate of the live 

 stock bought and sold within the year, and 

 to the implements of husbandry. The 

 stock must be estimated every year ; and 

 in settling this estimate, their worth at the 

 very time of :ts being made, that is, the 

 price they would then sell for, must be 

 set down. With respect to fatting beasts, 

 cows, and sheep, this proceeding must 

 equally take place. Every year, also, im- 

 plements should be valued, and the ba- 

 lance must be carried, where alone it is 

 applicable, to the general head of wear 

 and tear. 



The minuteness and accuracy neces- 

 sary for this, or any other efficient mode of 

 account, may deter many from its adop- 

 tion, and undoubtedly has this effect on 

 thousands. The want of attention, how- 

 ever, to this subject has, unquestionably, 

 been the cause to which many individuals 

 may justly ascribe their failure in this art, 

 and has operated extremely to check the 

 progress of it in general. The hints sug- 

 gested will be sufficient to evince its ge- 

 neral and particular importance, and in- 

 duce some, perhaps, to follow up, with 

 care and correctness, a practice, which 

 can alone enable them to give the fair re- 

 sults of interesting experiments, or quali- 

 fy them to ascertain the particular causes 

 of success or failure in general manage- 

 ment. The obscurity and perplexity of 

 conjecture can by such means alone be 

 changed for the clearness of fact, and the 

 beauty of order; and, in short, they can 

 thus only decide with truth, and act with 

 confidence. 



AGR1MONIA, agrimony, in botany, a 

 genus of the Dodecandria Dygmia class 

 and order : the calyx is one-leafed, perma- 



nent, perianthium fenced with an out- 

 er calyx ; the corolla has five petals ; the 

 stamina are capillary filaments, shorter 

 than the corolla; the anthers are small; 

 the pistillum is a germ inferior ; the style 

 simple ; the stigmas obtuse ; no pericar- 

 dium ; there are two roundish seeds. Of 

 this genus there are five species : the A. 

 parviflora grows in the borders of corn- 

 fields, shady places, and hedges, in Great 

 Britain, and most parts of Europe, also in 

 similar places in the United States ; it is 

 perennial, and flowers in June and July. 

 The root is sweet-scented ; an infusion of 

 it is used by the Canadians with success 

 in burning fevers. Dr. Hill says, that an 

 infusion of six ounces of the crown of the 

 root in a quart of boiling water, sweeten- 

 ed with honey, and drank to the quantity 

 of half a pint, thrice a day, is a cure for 

 the jaundice. When the plant comes in- 

 to flower, it will dye wool of a bright full 

 nankeen colour; if gathered in Septem- 

 ber, it yields a darker yellow. In Prussia 

 it is used for the dressing of leather. The 

 American species are three in number : 1. 

 A. cupatoria, of which there are two va- 

 rieties, the hirsuta and the glabra ; 2. A. 

 parviflora ; 3. A. pumila. 



AGROSTEMA, the garland of the field, 

 in botany, a genus of the Decandria Pen- 

 tagynia class and order : the calyx is one- 

 leafed; the corolla has five petals; the 

 stamina are ten awl-shaped filaments ; the 

 pistillum an ovate germ, with erect styles 

 and simple stygmas ; the pericarpium is 

 one-celled, the seeds are numerous. 

 There are four species, riz. 1. A. githago, 

 corn campion, or cockle : 2. A. corona- 

 ria, rose-campion : 3. A. flosjovis: and 4. 

 A. cceli rosa, smooth campion. The first 

 species is a common annual weed in corn 

 fields, and flowers in June or July ; the 

 seeds are black, with a surface like sha- 

 green, and appears in the microscope like 

 a hedge-hog rolled up. The second spe- 

 cies is biennial, a native of Italy, the Va- 

 lais, and Siberia ; but so long an inhabi- 

 tant of English gardens, that it is become 

 a kind of weed. Of this plant there are 

 three varieties, one with deep red, anoth- 

 er with flesh-coloured, and a third with 

 white flowers ; but they are not much es- 

 teemed, as the double rose-campion, 

 which is a fine flower, has excluded the 

 others from most good gardens. The 

 single rose-campions are sufficiently pro- 

 pagated by the self-sown seeds. The va- 

 riety with double flowers, having no seeds, 

 is propagated by parting the roots in au- 

 tumn, and planting them in a border of 

 fresh undunged earth, at the distance of 



