1839-1845-] AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENTS. 
161 
to so energetic an agriculturist as the Premier. The letter 
is written to Philip Pusey, himself one of the promoters 
of the Agricultural Society, and one of the foremost 
champions of “ Practice with Science.” 
“ My DEAR Sir, —I comply, with the greatest pleasure, 
with your wish that I should give you the particulars 
respecting the field which I drained and subsoiled, the 
produce of which was sent to you by our common friend, 
Dr. Buckland. 
“ I was riding with him over a part of my estate in the 
autumn of 1840. Pie remarked a quantity of manure put 
upon a field, of poor soil, very wet, and in bad condition 
generally, and said the tenant who placed it there went 
to very needless expense, for that manure would be of no 
service while the land remained undrained and in the state 
in which it then was. He said also that the land in Scot¬ 
land, which had been so much improved by Mr. Smith of 
Deanston, was naturally no better than that on which we 
were riding, and that in its original state it resembled that 
land in respect to the quality and properties of the soil in 
many particulars. 
“ These remarks of Dr. Buckland did not pass unheeded. 
I selected the worst field I could find, and determined 
strictly to follow the plan of Mr. Smith in respect to it, so 
far as draining and subsoiling are concerned. I first pro¬ 
posed to the tenant that he should retain the field and 
do the work under my directions ; but he thought it too 
expensive for his means, and preferred giving up the field 
and letting me take it into my own hands. 
“ Enclosed are the details with respect to the mode of 
treatment conveyed in answers to queries put by me. 
The produce you have, I believe, from Dr. Buckland. 
The weight given is of the turnips, with the tops, but 
without the fibrous roots. I was advised by very good 
practical farmers not to sow turnips, but to have a fallow 
for wheat; they thought the land not very well suited for 
turnips, and that the best period for sowing them was 
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