C 3^1 ) 
the beft and cleaneft rye and oats : The husbandmen took away the 
pebbles from off the furface , and then the land bore as ftrong 
wheat, peafe and barley, as before it bore oats and rye* In other 
parts where I have been, the husbandmen took avway the ftones 
which feenied to cover the fields, and fuftein'd great lofs for their 
coftly labour ; their corn was iBUch weaker for feme years after, 
lean attribute thefe differing events to nothing, but the difference 
of ftones , fome intrinfically warm, and impregnating above 
ground 5 fome cold and not impregnating, whileft in that pofici- 
on, orfituation. Yet fome experience forbids me to deny> that 
even fuch ftones, when covered with earth, at a certain depths 
may increafe the fertility of the land. And the hot and bibulous 
land, which drinks up the rain and fnow as foon as it falls, feems 
to have fome cooling refrefhment from under-ground pebbles, 
which are of a cold, iliff, and fullei} nature, 
8. Sir, fome years ago J wrote to you from Sir IF. S'f* mouth, 
that he could fliew !you, where water pafleth very flowly over 
ftone, and thence, drop by drop, falls down white, like curdled 
ihilk, and is afterwards there petrified. This doth feem to fliew 
the manner of petrification* And this I take to be the flow 
and cooling operation of fome kind of ftones , more than of 
other. 
9. What I have to fay of warming and fertilizing RockSj I ftal! 
deliver with anafpeft towards Scotlmd^ iox Horticulture. I had 
feveral times conference with Sir RobertMorray B.M. (who w^as an 
honour to hisCountrey,and a bleffing to the place where he abode) 
concerning efculent and olitary gardens, and ("under one) Nurfe- 
ries of Fruit-trees,, and other ufeful Vegetables in Scotland. I re- 
prefented, that^ almoft within my memory, they arc become the 
chief relief of England \ thst 'tis lately found, that auftere fruic 
yidd the ftrong and fprightfuriiquor, which refembles the Wine of 
the grape ^ that the return of gain from Gardens is great and fpee- 
dy ; Nurferiesneither a chargeable nor aburthenfome addifion, 
but a congruous engagement of the Multitudes to perfevere in the 
nobleft kindof Agriciilture. , Sir R.M. granted all that I faid ; 
and I am fare, heafted and executed all that fie could for the good 
of his own Countrey, and for England, &c. Bur^ faith he^ 
there are fo manyRocks,and fuch bleak winds in S(rtJ//W,(hat they 
Bbb can 
