crofs of iron (about an inch and a half 
each way) be welded in. 
The good confequences of this fimple 
contrivance will be: 
if. if the poker, by the fire giving way, 
fhould flip out, it will’ probably catch on the 
edge of the fender. 
2d. If it fhould not, it cannot injure the 
hearth or carpet; as the hot part of the poker 
will be borne up fome inches. 
And 3d. The poker cannot be run into the 
fire further than the bit; which, in regard to a 
_ polifhed poker, is alfo of fome confequence. 
Your’s, 
Feb. 16, 1797. M. 
se 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, 
HILE the works of fo many infig- 
nificant authors are colleéted with 
all poffible care, and ufhered into the 
world, with every embellifhment of the 
graphic and typographic art—it is mat- 
ter of fome furprife, that at a period 
of twenty years after the death of fo 
celebrated a writer as Goldfmith, his - 
works fhould ftill he feattered in feparate 
publications. Surely, the beft monu- 
» ment to his fame would be a complete 
and handfome edition of his original 
‘works: and fuch a one could not fail of 
meeting with a favourable reception, as 
the publ ifher might defire, and the me- 
rit of doing juftice to fuch an author, 
deferyes. I am aware that an edition 
of Goldfmith’s works has been publith- 
ed, within thefe few years, in Scotland; 
But, as it includes a feleétion of Englith 
poetry, and perhaps fome other of his 
compilations, it does not come within the 
above defcription. 
I believe the following lift of his ori- 
ginal works ig nearly correét—if it is: 
not, any of your correfpondents will 
oblige me, by making it fo: 
On the Prefent! Stare: of Polite Learning 
in Europe, 12mo. 1759. 
The Bée, 12mo. 1759. ° 
Citizen of the World, 2 vol. r2mo, 1760, 
FEffays, 12mo, 1766. °° 
AWicar of Wakefield, 2 vol. 42mo. 1765. 
Life of Lord Bolingbroke, BVe. 1770. 
Life of Parnell, before his works, {mall 
BVON Toe 
The Traveller, ato. 1768. é 
Deferted Village, ato. 1769. 
Retaliation, 4to. 1774. 
Haunch of Venifon, 4to. 1776. 
Good-natured Man, 8vo. 1768. 
She Stoops toConquer,8vo.1773. 
As your Magazine is particularly de- 
Voted to the eaufe of literature, 2 ee 
in 2 vol. f{mal] 
Printed together, 
Svo., 1780. 
Guldjmith.... Agricultural Botany. 
{April 
tempt (however feeble) to add to the 
reputation of fuch a writer as Gold- 
fmith, muft be rendering an acceptable 
fervice to its interefis 
I remain, fir, your's, &c. 
March EE Gila D. S. 
- 

To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
STR, 
aa increafing attention which has of 
late years been paid to agricultural 
purfuits, induces mé to fuggett a propo- 
{al for facilitating cheir further promo- 
tion, by connecting them in an appro- 
priate degree, with botanical refearches. 
The neceffity of an accurate know- 
ledge of the ftruéture- and nature of 
prafles in particular, as well as a more 
general acquaintance with fuch plants as 
are either ufeful or injurious in huf- 
bandry, to the practical farmer, mutt be 
obvious to uny one, who would confider 
the advantages it is calculated te produce, 
Botany, at this day, helds the fame rank 
in agriculture, as it did in the earlier 
ages, in medicine. Farmers, perhaps, 
are acquainted with a few of the moft 
noxious or ufeful plants, by their local 
appellations : this, and their ftill greater 
ignorance of the numerous fpecies of 
graifes, occafion the greateft obftacles to - 
the promotion of agriculture. Without 
the ability to judg2, or the difcretion ta 
feleét thofe graffes,’ beft appropriated ta 
the particular foil of their lands, they 
either promi{cuoully fow the refufe of 
their hay-ricks, or a mixture of good 
and indifferent feeds; or, which rarely 
happens, they procure, at an enormous 
expence, pure feeds, and by fowing 
them Im foils, exactly contrary to their na~ 
tural ones, entirelylofe the advantage that 
would otherwif e have accrued from them. 
Thefe, and numerous other inconvente 
encies, arife from the want of a compe- 
tent knowledge of the nature and eco~ 
nomy of the vegetable kingdom :—nor_ 
is it probable, that they wul be remov- 
ed,. while botany is confidered fo much 
an abftrufe fcience as it at prefent is. 
The obfcurity of the language, in which 
it is taught, and the difficulties of com- 
prehending a fyfiemmatic arrangement, 
are infuperable bars to the acquifition of 
it, by our unlearned countrymen : : and, 
till fome botanift will condefcend to fa 
miliarize the {cience to the capacity of 
common underitandings, we cannot ex- 
-pectagriculture will flourifh as it might, 
OF ought, to do. 
For thefe reafons, I have long abe | 
of 
