theory of the barometer; they have, however, the merit o»f 

 being a natural consequence of an established fact ; I mean the 

 great dilatation of air saturated with moisture, which must 

 undergo a proportionate contraction when deprived of water. 



On the comparative Culture of Turnips. Bj/ Mr. William 

 Watson*. 



Culture ofTur- JLJLAVING been long, and pretty extensively employed ia 

 neps. Agriculture, in a' district where the turnip husbandry is much 



practised, and being satisfied that when the soil is proper, and 

 the management judicious, great crops of that invaluable root 

 are the most profitable means of obtaining luxuriant and pro- 

 ductive crops of corn, &c. and of laying a solici foundation 

 for future abundance in the increasing quantity of manure, I 

 have paid particular attention to the different modes pursued 

 in its cultivation. It is with great pleasure, therefore, that in 

 the list of premiums offered by the Society, instituted at Lon- 

 don, for the Encouragement of Art, &c. — a Society w^hose 

 patriotic and laudable exertions deserve the most warm and 

 grateful thanks of every real friend to the British empire, — I 

 observe one for the best set of experiments made with a view 

 of ascertaining the most advantageous of these modes ; and, 

 having made a comparative trial with great acciiracy, I beg 

 leave to request that you will do me the honour of laying this 

 paper, which contains an account of it, before the Society. 

 That there are situations in this kingdom in which eight acres 

 of land may be found of an wtij'orm quality, I do not doubt. 

 I must, however, remark, that I never found that number of 

 acres contiguous to each other, or properly situated, for an 

 accurate comparative experiment, in the fallow land of any 

 farm in which I have been concerned, so precisely sii7iilar in 

 soil a7id condition, as to induce me to think that I could have 

 exhibited the result of so extensive an experihient as irrefra- 

 gable evidence of the superiority of any particu.!ar mode of 

 culture. Besides I could not have attended eitliei to the mi- 

 nute mixing of the necessary quantity of dung for eight acres 

 of ground, so as to have retidcred it of an uniforvi quality., 



* Society of Arts, Vol. XXIL 



