PREFACE. 
Wheat in drills, where three gallons of feed were allowed to an acre, a produce of nine quarters 
per acre j now this is no more than an eighth part of the feed ufually Town by farmers, who fei- 
dom reap more than one-third of this produce ; by which it appears plainly, that in the common 
method of hufbandry, there is at lead: eight times the quantity of feed Town upon the land that is 
neceffary. How great a faving this would he in a whole country, I leave every one to judge, efpe- 
ciafy in fcarce years, when Corn is dear ; and what an expence is occafioned by the contrary prac- 
tice to the farmers, who notwith {landing feem unwilling to alter their ancient cufloms. Thefe 
matters are treated of under the articles Avena, Hordeum, Secale, and Triticum. 
Nor are the common farmers better managers of their pafture lands ; for on them they feldom 
are at the trouble of rooting up bad weeds, which frequently over-run them ; thefe are often permit- 
ted to fcatter their feeds, by which the land is flocked with a fupply of weeds for feven years or more, 
tho’ the utmofl care be taken afterward to deflroy them : but tho’ there are fome farmers who may be 
fuppofed more careful in this refpedl, yet thefe leave in their head lands, and on their banks, hedge- 
rows, and the Tides of ditches, a fufficient number of weeds to flock their fields when the feeds 
are permitted to fcatter : befide, thefe paflures have rarely a fufficient quantity of manure allowed 
them, efpecially where there is much arable land ; nor is the dreffing laid on at a proper feafon ; the 
general rule with mofl of the farmers being to carry and fpread the dung upon their paflures, foon after 
the crop of hay is taken dff the ground; and as this is done in fummer, the heat of the fun draws all 
the moifture from it, whereby the greater part of its goodnefs is evaporated and loft. But as thefe 
points are more fully treated of in the body of this work, the author defires the reader to refer 
to them. 
On the article of Timber perhaps many may fuppofe, the author has been top diffufe in his in- 
flru&ions ; but if thofe who are of that opinion will only confider, how material an article this is 
to the welfare of this country, he flatters himfelf they will change their fentiments, efpecially when 
they refledt upon the great wafle that has been made of it for many years pafl; as alfo that the 
perions now employed by the government to cultivate and improve it, deriving their own profits from 
the wafle of timber, feem to think, that as their predeceffors have long pradtifed it, they have a 
right to do the fame ; this is now carried to fo great an extravagance, that unlefs a fpeedy flop be 
put to it, the government will be greatly diflreffed for their marine. For although this pradlice began 
in the Royal Forefls, &c. yet feveral of the nobility and gentry, who had very great quantities of tim- 
ber growing upon their eflates, have deflroyed a confiderable part of theirs alfo ; therefore, from a due 
regard for the public, the author has treated of the befl methods for propagating and preferving 
timber, which he hopes may not be difpleafing to the generality of his readers. 
The feveral plants here propofed for trial in the Britifh dominions in America, are fuch as there 
is reafon to believe will fucceed in thofe parts where the experiments are defired to be made, 
and confined to fuch only, as may be of utility to the public, and real advantage to the inha- 
bitants of thofe countries : furthermore, thefe experiments are propofed to be tried upon plants which 
will not fucceed well in England, fo as to render their culture pradlicable, and therefore will not in- 
terfere with the growth or trade of this country, and the confumption of which is very great here, ma- 
ny of them being of very confiderable ufe in our manufactures, which cannot be carried on without 
them ; as namely the Safflower, Indigo, and feveral other forts ufed in dyeing, none of which will thrive 
in this country to advantage, with many medicinal drugs, which, if introduced into the iflands of Ame- 
rica, will certainly thrive there as well as in their native foils. Coffee and Chocolate grow equally well 
there ; but the former being gathered before it is ripe, ill dried, and brought over to England in 
fhips freighted with rum and fugars, the effluvia of thefe commodities are imbibed by the Coffee, 
whereby it is rendered lefs valuable : as to the latter, it was formerly cultivated by the Spaniards in 
the ifland of Jamaica, when they were in poffeffion of it, fo as to furnifli the inhabitants with a quan- 
tity fufficient for their own confumption ; whereas the Englifh inhabitants now refident there, pur- 
chafe it of the Spaniards : thefe articles therefore require the public attention, for if the above commo- 
dities may be eafily produced in the Britifh. colonies in America, they will not only fupply us with 
fuch as are genuine, but alfo turn the balance of trade, greatly to the advantage both of Great-Britain 
and her colonies. 
It is alfo a great negledl of the inhabitants of the fugar iflands in America, to commit the care 
of their plantations to overfeers, who at befl go on in their ufual courfe, planting eight or ten 
fugar canes in each hill, fo that if five or fix of them grow, they will be fo clofe as to fpoil each 
other j for whenever thefe plants are {tinted in their growth, they are foon attacked by vermin, 
which fpread and multiply fo greatly, as frequently to deflroy the whole crop, or at leafl very much to 
damage it ; and this they lay upon inclement feafons, calling it a blight, whereas it proceeds from their 
own covetous cuftom. A gentleman of learning, who had a confiderable eftate in Jamaica, which was 
bequeathed to him upon his arrival there, was determined to make trial of the horfe-hoeing hufbandry 
among 
