not possible to obtain an earlier kind of grape than ever has been yet cultivated. The circumstance of the vine being so long in coming into a bearing state after it is reared from seed, renders it probable that few attempts have been made thus to obtain varieties of this plant; and there is every reason to believe that the few varieties we have of it have been all obtained from seedlings that have sprung up in desart places from seeds that have been dropped by birds; a thing that can but seldom take place now in Europe. But among these varieties we find a great diversity in regard to their time of ripening. Some of these sorts are so late as never to show their fruit at all in the open air in this country, while others ripen completely in an ordinary season. What I wish to recommend to the attention of your young readers, then, and others, is, to sow the seeds of the earliest kinds of grapes in abundance each season; and when the plants have acquired sufficient strength, plant them out in rows in a situation where a rail can be placed behind them to support their shoots. They need not be more than six inches apart; so that a small patch of ground will serve for a great many; let them be cut down to one eye each season, and no more than one shoot be permitted to spring out until they show fruit, which should be particularly observed, and its qualities remarked. As a standard for earlinefs, let one plant of the common muscadine vine be planted in the same row; when the fruit has once made its appearance, let all the worthlefs kinds be thrown out, and the va

fruit have been distinctly ascertained. In this way I have no doubt but in a course of years some very va luable kinds might be discovered that would ripen well in this climate; and in the mean time, I know few amusements that would be more engaging than that of watching the progrefs of the vines. I myself can only attempt this upon a small scale, and in an unfavourable situation; but I shall attempt it. There are many men of fortune, however, who have extensive gardens, in which these experimental treilages would make a very pretty show, to whom it could prove in no respect inconvenient. To such as choose to adopt this amusement, I would strongly recommend to save the seeds themselves, and see them put into the ground with their own eyes to prevent deceptions; and if they chose to diversify the experiment by trying seeds picked from the finest clusters of grapes imported from abroad, or from some of the best kinds of sun-dried raisins, they would only tend to render it the more interesting. If you shall think this worthy a place in your useful miscellany, it will confer an additional favour on A YOUNG OBSERVER.

SIR,

For Dr. Anderson.

THOUGH I observe you are very difficult to please respecting poetry, I hope you will find no difficulty in indulging me by inserting the following in your agreeable miscellany, which I am persuaded will please many of your readers, and afford a high gratification to

A CONSTANT READER.

Ode addressed to Dr. Robert Anderson, of Heriot'sGreen, Edinburgh, after a visit paid him by the Author, and various pedestrian excursions in Scotland. By G. Dyer.

I.

#

WHERE is the king of songs? He sleeps in death:

No more around him prefs the mail-clad throng;

He rolls no more the death-denouncing song;

Calm'd is the storm of war, and hush'd is Oísian's breath.
Low lies the bard: but still near Caron's stream

Resounds in fancy's ear his mournful lyre;
And oft where Clytha's winding waters gleam,
Shali pilgrim poets burn with kindred file.
Sunk is the poet's eye-but shines his name,
As, mid obstructing clouds, still lives the solar flame.

II.

Where now Dunbar? The bard has run his race:

But glitters still the Golden Terge on high;
Nor shall the thunder storm, that sweeps the sky,
Nor lightning's flash the glorious orb deface.
Dunkeld, no more the heaven-directed chaunt

Within thy sainted wall may sound again:
But thou, as once the muse's favourite haunt
Shalt live in Douglas' pure Virgilian strain:
While time devours the castle's towering wall,
And roofless abbies pine, low-tottering to their fall.

Oh! Tweed, say, do thy rolling waters glide
With patriot ardour, or with bigot rage?
In union dost thou distant friends engage?

Or flow, a boundary river to divide?

If love direct, roll on, thou generous stream,

Thy banks, oh! Tweed, I kifs, and hail thee friend:

But while thy waters, serpent-winding gleam,

Should serpent treacheries on thy course attend,

How should my feet thy banks disdainful rove!

Mean is the flower of song, unless it breathes of love.

IV.

But, no, my friend: I read thy candid page,

And trace the footsteps of a manly mind:
Be mine, with chaplets Scotian brows to bind,
While England's bards thy studious hours engage.
The Highland nymph shall melt with England's lay;
And English ears be charm'd with Scotia's song;
Though rude the language, yet to themes so gay
The softest streams of melody belong.

Still, Ramsay, shall thy Gentle Shepherd please,
Still, Burns, thy rustic mirths, and amorous minstrelsies.

V.

Oh! may I view again with ravish'd sight,

-As when with thee, my Anderson, I stray'd,
And all the wonder-varying scene survey'd,-

Seas, hills, and city fair from Calton's height!
And hear (for Scotia's rhymes, ah! soon shall fail),
Some Ednam bard awake the trembling string,
Some tuneful youth of charming Tiviot-dale,

Some Kelso songstress love's dear raptures sing.
Language may change; but song shall never die,
Till beauty fail to charm, till love forget to sigh.

Acknowledgments to Correspondents, on account of the absence of the Editor, necessarily postponed.

OCTOBER 1800.

RECREATIONS

IN

AGRICULTURE, NATURAL-HISTORY,

ARTS, & MISCELLANEOUS LITERATURE,

N° 2. VOL. IV.

AGRICULTURE.

PRACTICAL REMARKS ON THE

MANAGEMENT

OF THE DAIRY, PARTICULARLY IN RESPECT

TO THE OBTAINING OF BUTTER.

[Continued from page 12, and concluded.]

Part 7th. On the Utensils for the Dairy.

IN every part of the foregoing procefs it is of the utmost importance that the vessels, and every thing else about the dairy, be kept perfectly clean and sweet, for, without this precaution, there neither can be pleasure nor profit derived from it. This is a circumstance so universally admitted, that it may seem superfluous to take notice of it in this place. Yet, though it be