fixteenth and the crop from one fide of the field to the other, bears an affinity to the time of fowing:-It must be remembered, however, that it was begun in dry, and ended in wet weather. The quantity of feed, too, was very obfervable.-Part was fown with two and a half bushels, part with five bushels an-acre. This during winter and Spring, promised for a crop; while That had not nearly plants enough, had even the foil been in heart. But at barweft (this I particularly obferved), the fuperiority was by no means fo obvious: for tho' the number of ftraws were at leaft treble, the number of grains did not bear the like proportion; for the ears of the thin-fown were at least twice the length of those of the thickfown. However, at harvest, the thick-fown had the preference; and I am of opinion, that had there been from three bushels to three bushels and a half an acre fown throughout the field, instead of two and-a-half, the crop would have been confiderably better: and if ever again I fow wheat in November, it shall be with at least three bushels an acre; except the weather be very fine indeed: if cold and wet, from three to four. I dare not draw any general conclufions from these experiments; except that foot harrowed in with the feed is of fome, but very little fervice to heat on clay: That fifty bufhels of dry wood-afhes at 4d. is nearly equal to eighty bushels of foot at 7d: That eighty bufhels an acre of flaked lime harrowed-in with the feed is of no obvious fervice to wheat on clay: and that it is unpardonable management to fow wheat on clay in the middle of November. Nor have I a firm reliance even on these. And again I fay, fye for fhame, to neglect so many accurate experiments; for I never took more pains to make, nor lefs to obferve the refult of any, than those of K. 4. And yet thofe of K. 4. are not the only experiments I have neglected. Indeed I have always found a greater amusement in laying the foundation, than in carrying on, or finishing an experiment. This is a reflection which infers a degree of indolence that hurts me very much. • Let me endeavour to discover the fource of this neglect. My attention has been engaged by the more immediately neceffary Minutiæ of Farming; and by erections, difcumbering, &c. &c. This, I apprehend, is the principal fource; but it is not the only one: I have never had any method of making experiments. I have usually made a memorandum of them in the rough field accounts: fometimes thofe memorandums have been accurate and full; fometimes part has been left to the memory.-In this cafe, the space of time between feed-time and harveft was fure to obliterate it; and even thofe minuted fully, were fo fcattered in the field-accounts, that many of them efcaped notice, until it was too late.-Befides, a book is too unportable to be carried about in common; and, on a fcattered farm, it would take up a great deal of time to give Special attendance to every stage of every experiment. Another caufe of neglect was, I made too many, and made them too confufed: It was quite a piece of business to attend to their results. In order to obviate these inconveniences;-to divert the neglect ; and to render, as much as poffible, EXPERIMENTING amufive; I have refolved henceforward to efteem it an OBJECT OF IMPORTANCE; -and and to make no experiment but where there is a great probability of its being decifive. And to make the obfervance of the refults rather entertaining than tedious, I have adopted this method of experimenting. Instead of making a Memorandum in the check, or the field-accounts, I have opened a special REGISTER OF EXPERIMENTS. The Intention. The Refult. -2 Nov. -24. AUG. 1777. -No. XVI.. Ten lands in the In P. 3. The ten lands in the middle of the ley-part FLUTING FOR WHEAT. middle, are very perwere plowed the 18th Is it better to flute ceptibly the strongest of Sept. the out-fides, the fresh or the tale and beft crop; and the the 23d. of Oa. The plit? cleaneit quondal. whole fluted, and fown promifcuously the 2d. of Nov. The stale plit. -4 Auc. 1777•— fhook into cocklits Shook into cocks. Befides this bookal regifter, I have afcertained the locality of the experiments by Stumps; fo that I have one register at home, and another in the field. If an obvious difference prefents itself, a ftump is. at hand to tell me the caufe: whereas, without it, I should have to go home to my books, and back to the field, to reckon the lands, before I could be fatisfied; and ten-to-one forgetfulness, or fome more immediately neceffary business would render the obfervation to tally void. LIX. In T. 4. -31. JULY, 1777.---No. Shook the whole field into cocklits, while quite wet; except three Swaths. The trouble attending thefe ftumps is trifling: any offal-ftick the thickness of a flake, and eighteen inches long, anfwers the purpose. -I sharpen one end, and flatten each fide of the other.-The flat fides I chalk, to prevent the ink from running, and on this abbreviate the experiment; and, in arable fields, ftick them by the fide of the cross furrow, which I make wide enough to walk in *. * Paint would be preferable to ink, which is eafily washed out by the rains; or, perhaps, parchment-labels would be still better. EXPERI • EXPERIMENTING is a very serious Operation; and, without due CIRCUMSPECTION, a very dangerous Tranfaction: nor is it one, nor two, but a series of fimilar results that amount to CERTAINTY. The WEATHER, MANURE, TILLAGE, SEED, &c. &c. &c. are joint agents of FACTITIOUS VEGETISION; and on them jointly depends the goodness or badnefs of crops; and confequently to draw a just inference, their joint influence must be attended to.-Nor is their agency annual, nor certain; it may continue one, two, three, or more years therefore, a cautious RETROSPECT is neceffary, before an experiment be made; and when once made, the fame spot ought to be avoided until its influence be intirely worn-out.' We muft, for the prefent, take leave of our ingenious Author, but in our next Review, fhall felect fome other paffages equally inftructive, for the information and entertainment o our readers. + The process of Nature, affifted by Art which raises elementary to vegetable fubitances. ART. VIII. Original Papers; with an Authentic State of the Proof and Proceedings before the Coroner's Inqueft, which was affembled at Madras, on the Death of Lord Pigot, May 11, 1777; likewife the fubfequent Proofs and Proceedings before the Juftices at Madras, with the Opinions of the Judges of the Supreme Court of Judicature in Bengal. To the whole are fubjoined, The Defence of Mr. Stratton, and the other Members of Council, accufed by the Verdict of the Coroner's Inqueft; and the feparate Defence of Brigadier General Stuart; for himself and the Military under his command, &c. 4to. 4s. fewed. Cadell. 1778. N the Review for January, 1778, we gave an account of a very confiderable tract, entitled A Defence of Lord Pigot; in which performance, the Author powerfully pleaded the caufe of the deceafed CHIEF, with refpect to his differences with a majority of the council of Madras, in confequence whereof, his Lordship was put under an arreft,-from which he was only fet free by DEATH, the general jail-deliverer of all prifoners and captives, from the GREAT rogue in the Tower, to the little one at the Old Bailey. In a fubfequent Review *, we alfo, impartially, recommended, on the other fide of the question, An Inquiry into the Conduct of Lord Pigot; in which the tide of argument (backed by authentic vouchers,) ran ftrongly in favour of the gentlemen who had acted in oppofition to his lordfhip; carrying along with it, a large share of the public opinion. We have now before us, a complete ftate of the whole proceedings at Madras, &c. as above mentioned, in our fulllength copy of the ample title-page, prefixed to thefe Original Papers. This is a curious publication. It recites, I. All the * July, 1778. particulars particulars of the judicial inquiry into the caufe of Lord Pigot's death, which was fet on foot by the friends and adherents of the noble perfon deceased; in confequence of which, a verdict of wilful murder was given by the coroner's jury, against the gentlemen of the council, and others, who were concerned in the arreft and confinement of his Lordship: on which the parties were taken into cuftody, in order to their being brought to trial, &c. II. We are prefented with all the fubfequent proceedings, in confequence of which, the abovementioned verdict was fet afide, and the profecution totally quafhed *.-In the conclufion, we have, at large, the very full and elaborate defences, which had been prepared by the gentlemen accufed; and on which they intended to reft the whole merits of their caufe, had the tr.al taken place:-and which they had earneftly wished might take place, that they might have an opportunity of publicly refuting the charge, on the fpot where the tranfactions had happened, and where they could appeal to fo many witneffes of their conduct.'-These defences are now made public, for the fatisfaction of the inquiring world, and to serve as a full vindication of the whole conduct of thofe members of the council, who, as they fet forth, were not only obliged to act as they did, by the Company's inftructions, but forcibly driven, by Lord P.'s violence and defpotifm, to wreft from him the power of fubverting the conftitution of government legally established, for the fupport of the British intereft in that part of the globe. With refpect to the uniformity and confiftency of orders and inftructions, from the Company, at different times, to their fervants in India, this may be a very important object of inquiry. If it fhould appear, that the refolutions at home, are so confufedly framed, as to occafion disorder abroad, it is, furely, high time that thefe matters fhould be thoroughly reformed, and the fyftem better digefted.-In our account of the Inquiry, &c. above referred to, we exhibited a remarkable inftance of contrariety in the Company's inftructions,-in the very point on which the dispute between Lord Pigot and the council turned. 66 * It was declared by the Justices of the Court of Seffion, at Madras, in conformity with the unanimous opinion of the Judges of the Supreme Court of Judicature in Bengal," That the proceedings [under the form of a Coroner's Inqueft] were irregular, and contrary to law;" and it was accordingly refolved, that the whole be quashed, and laid afide."-The Judges of the Supreme Court here referred to, were E. IMPEY, ROBERT CHAMBERS, S. C. LE MAISTRE, and JOHN HYDE. Their opinion is given, at length, in this publication. ART. (32) ART. IX. A Tour in Wales. MDCCLXXIII. 4to. l. 1 sa T HESE Home-travels,' as their ingenious and very inquifitive Author, Mr. Pennant, informs us, in an advertisement, conftitute the first part only of an account of his own country; and were actually performed in the year mentioned in the title-page. He fpeaks of this circumftance, with the view of fatisfying the public, that they are not formed out of tours undertaken at different periods. They comprehend a complete peregrination through the tamer parts' of his native country, or North Wales; the more wild and romantic scenery of which, he proposes to defcribe in a future volume. His itinerary is illuftrated by twenty-fix plates, containing views of abbies and other buildings; Roman antiquities, particularly various antique inftruments and coins found near Flint; portraits, &c. In this, as in his former tours, the Au. thor feems to have loft no opportunity of inquiring into the prefent, and especially the former ftate of the places through which he paffes; and of collecting a variety of information, chiefly hiftorical and genealogical, refpecting the many ancient caftles, religious houfes, &c. in his route, that have been the fcenes of memorable events; which he does not fail to record, whether they relate to general hiftory, or to that of particular perfons and families. After defcribing St. Wenefrede's Well, and relating the legendary hiftory of the Saint, and the practices of her ancient devotees, the Author obferves, that fhe is not yet quite deferted, though the refort of pilgrims is exceedingly diminished. The greatest numbers are from Lancashire. In the fummer, ftill a few are to be seen in the water in deep devotion up to their chins for hours, fending up their prayers, or performing a number of evolutions round the polygonal well; or threading the arch between well and well a prefcribed number of times. Few people of rank at present honor the fountain with their prefence. A crowned head in the laft age dignified the place with a vifit. The prince who loft three kingdoms for a mafs, payed his respects, on August 29th 1686, to our faint; and received as a reward a prefent of the very shift in which his great grandmother Mary Stuart loft her head*." The stream formed by this fountain, runs with a rapid courfe to the fea, which it reaches in little more than the distance of a mile. In the age of pilgrimage and fuperftition, nothing but a corn-mill or two, the property of the monks, found employ for this beneficial ftream; but the induftry of the prefent The late Doctor Cooper of Chefter's MSS. century, |
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