$32 
mans esteemed agriculture so honourable an 
employment, that one of the highest praises 
. . could be given to a man, was that of 
saying he had well cultivated his spot of 
ground. I he most illustrious senators, in 
tne intervals of public concerns, applied 
th' inselves to tins profession. 
But to bring the subject home to our own 
country, we find that the art of husbandry 
was at a low ebb until the fourteenth century; 
atyvmch time it began to be practised in the 
muhand and south-western parts of England • 
yet it seems not to have been cultivated as a 
science, until the latter end of the sixteenth 
century ; when Fitzherbert, a judge of the 
common pleas, studied the nature ot xnik anrl 
HUSBANDRY, 
land, grass, orchards, plantation?, draining 
anti oltier improvements, live-stock, rural 
economy, means ot improvement, &c. 
• , ^ ": or k comprising so many important ob- 
jects m the science of agriculture, cannot 
tail of producing national benefits, greater 
perhaps than have been derived from any 
other political institution of modern times! 
vip rr ^ C ?H Uty re P orts of agricultural 
Views, the board have published sundry vo - 
1 umes of communications on various topics of 
husbandry, which have been transmitted to 
than by writers fully conversant with the 
subjects of their respt 
, * . — ’ — naiuicui mjhs ana 
the laws of vegetation with philosophical at- 
tention ; and m 1534 published his first work 
. : ’ "" “• puuiiMieu ms nrs 
entitled “ Ihe Book of Husbandry.” Be- 
yond which, small advances only were made 
m trie theory until the time of the common- 
wealth; when sir Hugh Platt, one of' the 
compleatest husbandmen of the age, disco- 
vered and brought into use a multitude of 
manures, little thought of by others, for me- 
liorating and fertilizing exhausted soils. At 
ie time of the Restoration, agriculture ap- 
pears to have suffered considerable neglect, 
until Evelyn and Tull, by their literary la- 
bours, mightily promoted the study. S'ince 
their days, many valuable improvements 
have been made in the practice, and many 
are the writers who have rendered essential 
services, by enlightening the minds of their 
countrymen, and exciting them to emulation, 
in our own days, with pleasure we behold 
many respectable agricultural societies esta- 
blished in different parts of the kingdom 
greatly contributing to the advancement of 
the practice as well as theory of agriculture • 
among which we must particularly notice that 
of high national concernment, instituted a 
tew years since, under the title of the “ Board 
of Agriculture.” 
About the year 1790, sir JBhn Sinclair, a 
gentleman of genuine patriotic philanthropy, 
conceived an idea that such a board, pro- 
pel ly constituted, would be of vast import- 
ance to the agricultural interests of the king- 
dom. Having, with much attention to the 
subject, matured his plan, and communi- 
cated the same to some of his parliamentary 
friends, in May ] 793, “ An address from the 
honourable house ot commons was presented 
to his majesty, entreating that his majesty 
would be graciously pleased to take into his 
royal consideration the advantages which 
might be derived by the public from the esta- 
blishment of a board of agriculture and in- 
ternal improvement.” 
After surmounting the difficulties naturally 
attending the formation of such an institution, 
the charter for the same was drawn up, and 
sanctioned by the authority of the great seal, 
m August of the same year, and the founder 
elected president. To this society we are 
indebted for 8.0 volumes of the most useful 
agricultural knowledge, which could be pro- 
cured from literary men, resident in, or inti- 
mitely acquainted with the respective coun- 
ties, under the title of a « General View of 
| S- n altui e thereof, with observations 
on the means of Internal Improvement.” 
i he grand outlines of the plan of these views 
am, the geographical state of each county, 
ihe state of property, farm buildings, mode 
pi occupation, implements, fences, arable 
~ such communica- 
tions, under some systematic arrangement, 
we may expect that agriculture will become 
the best understood, and the most accessible 
of any art in the whole circle of human ac- 
quirement. 
Soi J s - A . ,and cpnsidered as the basis of 
vegetation is called soil. The particles of 
he various solid, as well as less compact 
bodies that are met with in nature, and 
which have been rubbed down and reduced 
by the successive operations of the atmo- 
sphere, and the agency of other natural 
caus eSj being mixed and blended together in 
different ways and proportions, constitute the 
eartny compounds, which, from their being 
capable of absorbing, and in some measure 
retammg, moisture, as well as giving stability, 
ni mean fo t 1 SUpP ° rt to various pro- 
ducts of the vegetable kind, and form the 
bases of soils , n general; while the materials 
proceeding from the decomposition and de- 
cay ot numerous organized animal and vege- 
table substances, uniting with such com- 
pounds, compose the superficial layers of rich 
mould, from which plants chieflv draw or 
derive their nourishment and support, 
boils being formed in this manner, it is evi- 
dent they must vary much, both in the m,ali- 
t'es and proportions of the ingredients of 
which they are composed. In one situation 
or district one sort of material is abundant, 
and consequently enters largely into the soil 
m otheis it is deficient, while those of other 
kinds are plentiful, and constitute the prin- 
cipal parts of the soils where they are found, 
borne situations too abound much more with 
animal and vegetable matters than others 
which produce great diversity i„ regard to 
the soils. I ;ie harder and more firm sub- 
stances of nature, being, on account of their 
stiucture reduced more slowly, and with 
greater difficulty, into the state of earth, o- e - 
nerahy enter m much smaller proportions 
into the composition of soils, than those which 
aie of a soft and pliable disposition, and 
which approach nearer to the quality of 
fjV, * hus argillaceous, loamy, and vege- 
able matters are found to predominate very 
tnuch in soils in their primitive state, and 
according to their particular qualities and’ 
proportions to constitute very material dif- 
ferences in their properties; Calcareous and 
siliceous earthy matter* are distributed over 
some districts in great abundance, while in 
otners they enter into the composition of the 
soils in much smaller proportions, and thus 
coiiti ibute to vary their textures and qua- 
One of the means of deciding in respect to 
soils, which, in many cases, when properly li- 
mited and exercised, by a person of sound 
judgment and duly experienced, is eertaiidy 
not a bad one, though in some respects also 
defective, is that ot determining from the na- 
, f or , t le P la >fts that are naturally produc- 
ed, and the degrees of their growth and luxu- 
t iance. I bus, where plants that are only 
accustomed to grow m good or peculiar sorts 
Ot SOI , are met with in their natural and 
flemishing states in other places, the soils 
C0 ! lcl “ ded to be of this or that kind, 
t ccoi ding to the circumstances in which they 
are found. Ijie growth of certain sorts of 
timbei tiees and hedges, may also in various 
instances serve to direct the judgment, and 
likewise the appearances or colours of the 
mould m particular instances; the smell and 
the touch w ill also help to inform us of the 
quality of a sod: The best emits a fresh plea- 
sant scent, when fresh dug up; and if due 
proportions of clay and sand are intimately 
ended, it will not much 'stick to the linger 
nav i a'”?' Ll ‘, t ’ , however > that our readers 
u ay lie informed of some of the leading prin- 
ciple. which chemistry employs, in analysing 
ttjLEdir u,e iollo " i,,s ’ 
1. To ascertain the quantity of water in 
TdJtr ak f e a P0, ‘ nd of the soil > spread it 
veiy thm before the kre, or in the sun-shine 
m a warm day, let it lie till it is thorou^ 
lr > > the evaporation of the water will be 
known by the weight lost. 
earthvs° a fo°t\ if theie i r r an N metallic or 
eai tli} salts, take a pound ot soil, pour noon it 
a pound °t boiling distilled water, stir them 
thoroughly together, and let them stand for 
ten minutes, lilter off the wgler through tilter- 
^paper pour mto what comes through a 
solution of the hxt vegetable alkali; if there 
iioH^illtAe ptac™' 111 "' 
3. To know if the salt contained has cal- 
az* of teeter lake 
the nitrated solution, pour into it half an 
ounce of caustic volatile alkali, or conti m e 
HtionTbl 110 fn.'tiier precipi- 
tation takes place ; afterwards filtrate it and 
pom to what filtrates through a little solution 
of hxt vegetable alkali; If there Ts any 
Im thc 1 precipitation, it shews that .here is an 
eat thy salt consisting of calcareous earth for 
eo its elements; if a precipitation took 
ib e aliT the a PP Ilcalion of the caustic vo- 
latile alkali, it shews that there certainly are 
earthy or metallic salts. 0 
4. To know if the salt contained is me- 
tallic oi aluminous,' add to the filtrated solu- 
tion an infusion of galls; if there is any me- 
take nLc U "if" 0l,S salt ' a precipitatioX will 
ncr n P r alh.I,, V ro '’' " 1>i " ljlish blat ' k; ir c«p- 
pei, or ailuga, a grey; copper may also L 
distinguished from iron by falling 'i n a blue 
p 1 capitate upon the application of an alkali ' 
w lule iron forms a greenish, and all, in, a white 
f • , T f ° k r w , if ma goesia is an element of 
the salts found, take the filtrated solution 
dpply to it a solution of galls; if no precipita- 
| )a take f. P lace > apply caustic volatile alkali 
winch wall precipitate the magnesia if it is 
an element of the salt contained. 
o. 1 o know if a neutral salt is conning 
evaporate the filtrated solution with, a brtlt 
heat, till the whole water is nearly 
and let it stand to cool- if th ... - 1 ° ’ 
trai sat, it will crystallize. 18 ^ nei ** 
