24 



The grand committee of arrangement will state the 

 several questions, on the decision of which, light may be 

 thrown by experiment, and will assign them to subordinate 

 committees. I shall not presume to anticipate any of 

 them; but supposing a ridge of many small divisions, 

 or compartments, to be assigned to the several varieties of 

 the oat tribe ; another to wheat, for the purpose of trying 

 the efficacy of the several specifics that have been recom- 

 mended, as preventives of the disorders to which that most 

 important grain is subject, and by which its value is so 

 often diminished ; — let me suppose another ridge consigned 

 to the untried vegetables of other climes, upon which man 

 or his domestic animals are sustained in their native coun- 

 tries; another to the indigenous vegetables of our own, 

 which hold out the most distant probability, or even pos- 

 sibility of repaying the expense of culture, or of being im- 

 proved by it into value. What a mixture of instruction 

 and amusement, would a walk in such a field give to agri- 

 cultural amateurs ? Their interest in the pursuit would be 

 increased ; they would become in some sort experimen- 

 talists themselves ; and their suggestions would, no doubt, 

 be attended to and deserve a fair trial. 



