Retrofpe of Demeftic LiteraturemAgriculturefes ce 
> ia 
buted virtues of a higher order to his 
Pigment, than it comes within the limits 
of poffibility that it fhould poffefs 5 but 
why not expofe the inefficacy of this pig- 
ment without being angry ? 
**AnEffay orPrattical Inquiry concerning 
the Hanging and Faftening of Gates and 
Wickets, with plates. By Tuomas N. 
PaRKeR, Efq. M.A.” Thisis a {cienti- 
fic little work : weare very glad to fee that 
Philofophy—who has lately taken up far- 
ming with a great deal of tpirit, and is 
ever on the foot in different parts of her 
premifes—is careful enough to fhut the 
gates after her. To be ferious, if a cal- 
culation could be made of the quantity of 
corn, turnips, &c. annually deftroyed by. 
means of ftock, which take advantage of 
the farmer’s negligence, and deftroy the 
fruits of his lahour, we are inclined to 
believe it would excite confiderable afto- 
nifhment and regret. In order to remedy 
this evil, Mr. Parker has inveftigated the 
principles on which gates and wickets 
fhould be hung ; he~fhews the praétical 
application of thefe principles, and then 
proceeds to the fattening of gates and 
wickets; to their mode of conftru€tion, and 
to give fome rules for making different 
Kinds of fencing. |= The principles of 
hanging gates are thus given; ‘* when 
the hocks or pivots upon which a gate is 
hung, are precifely in the fame perpendi- 
cular line with each other, the gate will 
be at re{t wherever it may be placed. But 
the -fmalleft variation of the hooks from 
their perpendicular line will attach toa gate 
fo fufpended, one determinate line of reft, 
and no other. When a gate is in its line 
of reft, or in its oppofite line of equili- 
brium, the two hooks by which it is fuf- 
pended, and the centre of the gate’s gra- 
vitation, will be found to be in one and 
the fame vertical plane.”? Mr. Parker has 
alluftrated his inftru@ions with references 
to plates. . 
~ _ The following is an ufeful work, *¢ the 
Grazier’s Ready Reckoner ; or, a Ule- 
ful Guide for Buying and Selling Cattle, 
being a complete Set of Tables, diftinly 
pointing out the Weight of Black-cattle, 
Sheep, or Swine, from Three to One 
‘Hundred - and Thirty Stones, by Mea- 
furement ; together with Directions, fhow- 
ing the particular Parts where tie Cattle 
are to be meafured. By GeorGe REN- 
TON.”’ : 
Mr. Munnines, a clergyman in 
Norfolk, has publifhed an interefting 
«* Account of fome Experiments for Dril- 
ling and Protecting Turnips, &c. &c.” 
Mr. Munning is enthufiattic, perhaps, to 
Montuiy Mac. No. 97. 
595 
an extravagant degree, in his expectations 
of the benefit to refult from his difcovery 
of a new method to protect the turnip 
from fevereft frofts: the plan which he 
fuggefts is neither attended with expence 
nor difficulty. He depofits the feed by 
means of a drill (the expence of which 
is about a guinea) in equidiftant rows of 
eighteen inches: the alternate rows are 
removed for autumnal confumption and 
the remaining rows, now a yard from each 
otlter, aré moulded up by means of a one= 
horfe plough. Thus defended they bid de- 
fiance to the fevereft froft ; and Mr. Mun- 
nings affures us, that, in the trying win- 
ter which we lately experienced, when the 
turnips of the neighbouring farmers were 
generally perifhed, his were in- no refpeét 
injured ; the roots were unffozen and the 
tops alive. For particulars on this im- 
portant fubjeét, we mult refer thofe who 
are defirous of profiting by Mr. Mun- 
ne experiments, to the pamphlet it- 
felf. 
Part I, Vol. IIL. is publifhed of «* Com- 
munications to the Board of Agriculture, 
on Subjects relative to the Hufbandry 
and internal Improvement of the Coun- _ 
try.” . This publication confifts folely of 
eflays by different gentlemen on ‘* the 
beft means of converting certain portions of 
gta{s-land into tillage, without exhaufting 
the foil, and of returning the fame to 
grafs after a certain period, in an im- 
proved ftate, or at leaft without injury. 
The principal writers are Sir John Sin- 
clair, Dr. Walker; Regius Profeffor of 
Natural Hiftory in the Univerfity of Edin 
burgh, Mr. Dalton, the Rev. Mr. Clofe—- 
who, though deriving the chief fupport for 
himfelf, a wife, and eight children, from 
the revenues of the church, yet acknow- 
ledges that tythes operate as a direét tax ~ 
on the {kill, the capital, and the indutiry 
of the country, and has, in confequence of 
this impreffion, fuggetted in detail a very 
plaufible plan for the commutation of 
tythes, and propofed it for the deliberation 
of the Board of Agriculture—-Mr. Max- 
well, Sic Charles Middleton, &c. &c. &c. 
Gentlemen poffefied of fuch knowledge 
and experience, as moft of thofe whole 
names we have enumerated, diftinétly and © 
feparately, devoting their attention and 
inquiries to the fame fubjeét, muft of 
courfe have examined it in ai] its bearings 
and have thrown upon it the utmoft light. 
A great body of information is here colleé- 
ed on an important topic, and the volume 
will of courfe be confulted by all thofe who 
are more immediately interefted in agri- 
cultural concerns. 
4 Law 
