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just diffidence, has suppressed his name. We feel no kind of curiosity to know it.

XXII. Observations on manures, by Alan M. Conochie, Esq.now Lord Meadowbank. These consist principally of strictures on some doctrines laid down by Mr. Somerville, in his Outlines of a chapter on the subject of manures, for the proposed general report of the Board of Agriculture. Lord M.'s observations are just and highly deserving of attention. He deprecates the practice recommended in the Outline, that dunghills should be constructed in a way to favour complete fermentation, and that only the fermented residuum should be applied to the soil; on the contrary he recommends the dung to be used when very imperfectly fermented, yet when the process is going on with such vigour, as to continue, after mixture with the soil, till it is completed. We could wish to give an extended account of this paper; but we must be content with recommending a perusal of it to every practical farmer.

XXIII. On the culture of Beans, by J. C. Curwen, Esq. recommends cutting of beans, while in a perfect fresh and

green state.

XXV. A short account of the disease in corn, called the blight, the mildew, and the rust, with plates, by Sir Joseph Banks. This account having been separately printed, was noticed in our first Vol. p. 538, to which we refer. In another part of the communication, however, we find a statement corroborating Sir Joseph's opinion that the blighted grain will probably serve as well for seed-corn, as the plumpest and fairest sample. Several experiments, with similar success, have occurred within our knowledge. In this statement Mr. W. Curtis, of Lynn, judiciously remarks, that before seed of this description is hazarded for a crop, it is certainly advisable to plant a few grains of it in a garden pot,* in a warm situation, by way of trial. The advantage of using. such seed is two-fold; as a less quantity will seed the land, in the proportion, perhaps, of two to three, and the plump farinaceous corn is preserved for consumption.

XXVI. Experiments on Agriculture, by Mr. John Wright, of Pickworth, Rutlandshire. These are experiments to ascer tain the comparative effects of long straw dung, rotten dung, and burnt straw, in a course of crops, which being not yet finished, the communication, though interesting, is premature.

XXVII. On the wire-worm, by Thomas Marsham, Esq. Mr. M. here communicates, from the transactions of the Academy of Sciences in Sweden, a memoir on the natural history of

* It may be tried more speedily in water. Rev.

the wire-worm. This insect is the larva of the elater segetis, and continues in the grub state for five years. No efficient mode is proposed for its destruction; the discovery of which would be one of the highest benefits conferred on agriculture. XXVIII. Experiments with urine as a manure, by Dr. Belcher. Three flower-pots, holding about a quart each, were filled with sifted gravel from Epping Forest. One was left un-, manured, a second was manured with five grains of soda phos. phorata, and the third with five grains of ammonia phosphorata. Five seeds of garden cress were sown, and grew in each pot. After forty seven days the experiment was finished; the plants in the first were found to weigh 40 grains, those in the second 180 grains, and those in the third 188 grains. Thus it appeared that five grains of these constituent salts of urine, were capable of more than quadrupling the produce. The negligence of many farmers, in suffering this valuable manure to drain away, is justly reprehended, but the writer does not seem to be aware that, among agriculturists who pretend to science, it is an object of attention; that it is soaked up with straw, &c. in a dung-yard, or else conducted into a pit where the ma nure is deposited. From other experiments the ammonia phos→ phorata appears greatly preferable.

XXIX. Letter from Dr. Campbell of Fort Marlborough, to Lord Carrington, dated 5th March, 1804. This letter contains an account of the cultivation of the clove and nutmeg in Sumatra, since their importation, in 1798, from Banda. Their success has been complete, and will we trust prove an impor tant national benefit. Neither plant flourishes in Bengal. Dr. C. recommends the trial in Jamaica.

XXXI. On potatoe-fallows, by John Cotes, Esq. We remember seeing this paper printed in a separate form for private circulation. The practice submitted is as follows.

Plough a wheat fallow in two bout ridges. In the furrow put some dung, on that dung place the potatoe sets, and then plough a bout on them, a ridge thus formed, gives a double portion of earth for the plant to grow in, and it has the benefit of the dung to root in. This applies to that part of the land which bears the crop, and which will form so many rows. The remaining part of the land will form so many alleys, in which, during the summer, the common operation of the plough will make the fallow; and thus crop and fallow be had without injury to the land. The fallow will even, in most cases, be amended, from the circumstance of some little additional trouble, which, for the sake of the po tatoe crop, will be bestowed by the farmer, beyond the tillage he usually gives to the summer fallow, and hence two crops, the immediate food of man, may be had within the same tillage.”

XXXII. Seminary for agricultural education, by Sir Henry Vavasour, Bart. A village school at Melbourne, in Yorkshire,

has been established by Sir Henry, uniting to the common in struction in reading and writing, practical lessons in gardening and agriculture, on an acre of ground.

XXXIII. A cottage-oven, by Sir C. Hawkins. With a plate.

XXXIV. On the form of animals, by Henry Cline, Esq. Surgeon. Mr. C. recommends, in crossing of breeds, that, of the varieties used, the female should be proportionally larger than the male. The great improvement of the breed of horses in England is attributed to crossing with the diminutive stallions of Barbary and Arabia; while the introduction of Flanders mares has been equally advantageous in the breed of carthorses. Instances are adduced in which a contrary practice appears to have been very injurious. Attempts to improve the native animals of the country, by any plan of crossing, should be made with great caution, for irreparable mischief may arise from a mistaken practice extensively pursued. In conclusion, Mr. Cline remarks that it is wrong to enlarge a native breed of animals, for in proportion to their increase of size, they become worse in form, less hardy, and more subject to disease. The paper contains many useful hints, and we recommend the whole of it to the serious consideration of all who make breeding stock an object of their attention.

We have now gone through the multifarious contents of this volume; and our readers will see that we have found much to approve, and something to condemn; but perhaps the most obvious remark is that the compiler has used the hoe of selective judgement with far too little diligence. It would be vain to expect that the style should be materially improved, but it may be required of him, as a duty to the Board and to the Public, to reject such communications as contain nothing new or important.

Art. III. The Birds of Scotland, with other Poems, by James Grahame, 8vo. pp. 240. Price 7s. Longman & Co. London. Blackwood, Edinburgh, 1806,

WE are pleased to recognize in Mr. Grahame the anony

mous author of The Sabbath ;' especially, as the rapid sale of three editions of that poem has sanctioned the praise, with which we announced it in an early stage of our labours. (E. R. I. 534.) We congratulate our readers on the possession of another publication of this rare and valuable description; in which eminent talents appear advantageously united to a vein of seriousness and devotion. Part of this work is dedicated to sacred subjects; the choice is honourable to the poet; and we are willing to believe that the same happy spirit of

iety,which they express, is predominant in his meditations; because it is evident, not merely in pieces where propriety demands it, but in the longer poem which denominates the volume.

The subject of this poem is new; and the author has displayed his ingenuity, in discovering novelty among the ob jects to which we are most familiar. He has not wandered in search of it to the shores of Mexico, or the caves of Domdaniel; but he has opened in our own country, at our own doors, a valuable mine, which we hope he will continue to work, without fear of exhausting it. It is a subject which affords an ample scope for descriptive talent, and requires an animated and observant admirer of nature. Such are Mr. Grahame's peculiar qualifications. He is remarkable for minuteness and accuracy of delineation; his pictures infallibly revive our recollection of scenes that are past, and possess that distinctive truth of representation, which cannot be maintained either in poetry or in painting by a creation of the fancy.

Governed by feeling and habit, rather than by theory or prejudice, Mr. Grahame appears to have derived, from his attachment to rural scenery, a decided aversion to the refinements of civilized life; and he constantly manifests a warm predilection for the wildness of uncultivated nature, as well in the moral, as in the physical world. He seems to have cherished this feeling with fondness, till at length he submits to its influence with inconsiderate and implicit obedience. A warm friend to universal happiness, he connects it indissolubly with universal freedom. Hence he regards the persecution of partridges, and of covenanters, with emotions scarcely dissimilar. He is deeply affected, not only with the horrors of the slave trade, but with the captivity of a lark, the imprisonment of a child in a cotton mill, or the impressment of a sailor; and he wastes his indignation successively on the conversion of a forest into a lawn, of many farms into few, of two kingdoms into one. On some of these points we fully agree with him, though we conceive that the opinion expressed on others is incorrect and altogether intrusive. Yet as he always chuses the poetical side of the question, we are not disposed to contend with him; it is not for the muse to be always groping for that line which accurate reasoning has described, nor do we always wish to remember it ourselves, Readily would we yield our feelings to her enchantments, and follow her fearlessly in our happy reve ries; certain that we should not adopt her suggestions in practice, but that the moment of effort would destroy the illusion, and recal ús from the error into which she had betrayed us.

We proceed to state the contents of this interesting volume.

The principal poem is divided into three books, describing the following birds, and noticing, incidentally, their nests, eggs, food, peculiar habitudes, and various enemies. I. The lark, partridge, gorcock, plover, snipe, yellow-hammer, red breast, blackbird, thrush,† wren, linnet, chaffinch, goldfinch, woodpigeon, and fieldfare. II. Cuckoo, swallow, martin, corncraik. III. Falcon, owl, raven, cormorant, § eagle, and sea-eagle.

This plan is neither complete nor methodical, but Mr. Grahame does not profess to write a treatise. His digressions are large and numerous; he usually adverts from each bird, more or less naturally, to some event of ancient or modern life, and renders their sufferings more interesting, by comparing them with the calamities of mankind. We must now lay some specimens before our readers. In the execution of this duty, Mr. G. has occasioned us much embarrassment; we cannot adopt half the passages we have marked, and we know not which to relinquish.

The following will display his happy minuteness of description; almost every word is a picture.

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With earliest spring, while yet the wheaten blade
Scarce shoots above the new-fallen shower of snow,
The skylark's note, in short excursion, warbles:
Yes! even amid the day-obscuring fall,

I've mark'd his wing winnowing the feathery flakes,
In widely-circling horizontal flight.

But, when the season genial smiles, he towers
In loftier poise, with sweeter fuller pip~,
Chearing the ploughman at his furrow end,-
The while he clears the share, or, listening,
Upon his paddle-staff, and, with raised hand,
Shadows is half-shut eyes, striving to scan
The songster melting in the flood of light.'

leans

. 2. 3.

Our next specimen is of a higher order; it alludes to the gorcock, and describes the day on which the sportsman animal is roused from his torpid state.

Low in the east, the purple tinge of dawn
Steals upward o'er the clouds that overhang
The welkin's verge. Upon the mountain side,
The wakening covey quit their mother's wing,

Here called, the Merle. + Mavis. Shilfa. || Cushat

Some ornithologists use the name corvorant in preference. Lewin Synops. Vol. vi. Latham, Gen. Synops. Vol. vi. Johnson says cormo

rant, corvus marinus.

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