time, by authority of the French veterinary schools. All the members of the society and their connections, as far as their influence may extend, to entrust the care of their diseased animals to the surgeon appointed, at a fair and liberal charge for his attendance and medicines. The surgeon to keep a regular his. tory of all the cases which shall come under his inspection, including the presumed causes and symptoms of the disease, with the probabie methods of prevention; Lis mode of treat ment, a particular detail of the medicines prescribed, their operation, with every relative and useful remark which may occur. A clear written copy of such veterinary transactots, to be delivered annually, and on a certain day, to the society, to remain at their disposal." After endeavouring to impress strongly on his readers the belief that all infallible recipes are infallible nonsense, Mr. Law "There is only one view, in which I can give them hopes, but those are of the most brit kind, and well worth their utmost at apts to encourage; I mean the hopes, or rather compete certainty of success, from the male receipt of prevention, singly worth more than all the infallible cordials and anel, it os ever advertised. It should be considered, that damals living in a state of nature, regulate by the reason and experieuce of man, weald be almost exempt from disease. That their appetites, unlike ourown, may be held under a constant coutroul. That their disea es result parely, even in the case of hereditary defects, from the negligence or erroneous treatment of their owners. They are either exposed too much to the rigours and changes of the weather, or they are gorged with food, denied a sufficient quantity, or sup, plied with such as is unwholesome. Here we have the chief causes of their maladies, learn to prevent then, instead of undertaking the tedicus, unsuitable, and hopeless task of learning to cure them. Of all things, let the proprie tors of cattle renounce for ever the insane folly, of ottering premiums for specifics to cure incurable diseases! and the hope of providing medicines, which, by a miraculous operation, will enable men to continue in the habit of exposing their animais to the constant risk of such diseases; for example, sheep in those situations, which nature has decreed shall for ever rot them." Concerning the rot, doctors, sheep-doctors, have long disagreed: it has been attributed to various causes, and lately with much confidence to the fluke, the embryo of which, it is supposed, being taken internaily by the animal with its food, produces the disease so called. Mr. Lawrence suspects the effect to have been mis taken for the cause, and demands of those who suppose them to have been received from without" in the state of eggs or seed, to demonstrate by what route such seeds could possibly arrive at and enter into the substance of the liver and brain, or the blood-vessels of an animal body; and farther to exhibit specific patterns of those insects living upon the earth without the body. It is mere assertion (he conti nues) that real flukes have been found adhering to plants and stones, nor do the worms bred in the animal body bear any certain specific similitude to earth-worms, or any other insect." But if these fasciola are not received from without, whence do they originate? Mr. Lawrence, we fear, has entangled himself in a more difficult problem than that which he offers so triumphantly for solution. The exploded doctrine of spontaneous vitality and equivo cal generation was revived by Dr. Darwin,* and seems to be embraced by Mr. Lawrence, who in the choice of two evils has not used his ordinary judgment, A curious fact is mentioned in the Sussex report, namely, that eighty ewes, from Weyhill fair, being turned into some fields adjoining a watered meadow, twenty of them broke into the meadow one night, and were taken out in the morning and kept till they lambed: they produced twenty-two lambs, all which lived, but every one of the ewes died rotten before May-day. The remaining sixty made themselves fat, nor was there a single rotten sheep among them. Mr. Lawrence attributes the malady to cold caught by the animals and afterwards neglected, not to their feeding for a few hours on crude watery herbage, although a continuance on such food he believes would infallibly produce the disease, Catarrh, followed by glanders, he says, is a very common cause of the tot, having himself witnessed the progress of the disease in a great number of instances: sheep are very subject to catarrh, and its most malignant effects are very speedy with this species of animal. The remote cause of rot then, according to Mr. Lawrence, is long exposure to stagnant moisture and its effluvia, or too great and continued humidity of either air, earth, or food: the effects of the rot are fasciola hepatica! Surely the anecdote of Mr. Bakewell cannot be true: we should be sorry to see it authenticated, as it would lower him very much in our estimation. *In one of the notes to The Temple of Nature. Although the publications of lord Somerville, sir Joseph Banks (in the Annals of Agriculture), Dr. Parry, Mr. Bartley, &c. and the practice of these gentlemen, together with that of his majesty, have at length in a great measure overcome the suspicious prejudices of the wool-buyers against the introduction of Spanish sheep into this country, for the purpose of producing our own fine wools; yet we consider the large collection of facts which Mr. Lawrence has brought together, disproving the alleged degeneracy of the Spanish breeds when exported from their own country, as by no means superfluous or inopportunely offered to the public. It appears from a history by Mr. Lasteyrie, of the introduction of fine-wooled Spanish sheep into the different states of Europe and the Cape of Good Hope, that the breed is universally diffused over the continent, and that so far from having degenerated, the naturalized merinos have in some places exceeded in size and strength those bred in Spain, and the fleeces lost none of their quantity, fineness, or elasticity. In this country we have of late years manufactured home-grown Spanish wools into superfine cloths and kerseymeres from the flocks of his majesty, lord Somerville, Dr. Parry, and others, and they have been acknowledged by impartial judges to be in no respect inferior to cloths made from the imported wools. The objection urged against the Spanish cross, that carcase is sacrificed to wool, a smaller quantity of mutton being fatted per acre is futile in the extreme: in point of flavour no mutton is finer than the Spanish, nor is any breed more disposed to fatten, or in proportion to the bone produces a larger quantity of flesh. If the breed is smaller in any given degree, by one-fourth for example, than that of the old flocks we are accustomed to graze, the obvious remedy is to encrease by onefourth the number of the new flock: this is the plain system of compensation. Another remedy presents itself, that of engrafting the Spanish stock upon some of our larger breeds. With this view Mr. Lawrence recommends the Dorset, as they have been found to produce the largest half-breeds from the Spanish ram. Should this be inferior to the Ryeland cross, (brought into fashion almost exclusively by lord Somerville and Dr. Parry) in respect to fineness of wool," an additional dip of the Spaniard would probably level them in that respect." Mr. Lawrence suggests that the mild and docile character of the Spanish sheep would correct the wildness of our Welsh and heath sheep: the best adapted breeds to engraft on he thinks are the Ryeland, South Ďown, Dorset, and Cheviot, with the smaller varieties Cannock-heath, Morf, Forest, Welsh, Dunfaced, and the Wiltshire, Berkshire, and Norfolk, if indeed these latter are worth preserving. We cannot take our leave of Mr. Lawrence without passing a well-merited encomium on the general spirit of humanity which pervades these pages. It is universally indeed allowed, that among all animals gentle treatment and abundant food induce docility and thrift: at how great variance is our practice from our theory! a false notion of economy, an inhuman and unprofitable parsimony, prompt us to expose much of our stock to the inclemency of seasons and a scarcity of food, whilst violence is employed instead of gentleness, and blows instead of caresses, in breaking in to the collar the passive ox and the spirited colt. ART. II.-Communications to the Board of Agriculture; on Subjects relative to the Husbandry, and internal Improvement of the Country. Vol. IV. 4to. pp. 446. IN this heavy volume there are very nearly two hundred articles, many of them extremely insignificant and cumbersome. Farmers are dull, prosing fellows, with a great deal of vanity. Each fancies his own mode of slicing turnips, or chopping straw, better than that of his neighbours, and of such momentous consequence is it to the country that his superior manage ment should be made public, that if honest John Trot has had a good schooling, and can write and read, he sets to work and honours the Board of Agriculture with his communication, or their agents who compile the county surveys. Really the task of selection, if there is any selection at all, is confided into very injudicious hands; we should not other wise see, as we constantly do, the same dry detail over and over again in publica tions which are issued under the sanction and patronage of the same society. But let not our readers take the alarm: we have no intention to lay that merciless contribution on their patience, which when imposed on our's it is a duty to submit to. We shall only notice those papers which merit remark, or offer curious and valuaable information. The first sixteen papers treat on the management and cultivation of different sorts of soils, and doubtless some of them may be referred to with advantage by novices who have such soils in their occupation. Here, as in all other professions, we find the doctors disagreeing: within half a dozen pages of each other, we hear Mr. Best disapproving the use of the scythe for one or two years after land has been laid down with grass, and stating bluntly that a neighbour of his actually killed all his grass plants by such an injudicious system; whilst Mr. Cotton tells us that "experience has convinced him beyond doubt that it is far preferable to mow the grass on the first year after laying down;" and from a fear of injury by the treading of animals, he would on no consideration suffer a cow or a sheep to pasture on his grass land till the first crop had been mown! "The advantages that are to be derived from steam to the fen country are almost incalculable. In case of intense frost, the uniform velocity, with the opportunities of communicating heat, would prevent the engine from freezing, to which, from the uncertainty of winds, the other engines are very much subject. The consequence is, that a great fall of snow coming at the same time, as the mills have not been in a state to prepare the ditches to receive the waters which it occasions, an inundation very gradually takes place in the fens; and as the waters rise very rapidly under these circumstances after a thaw, it frequently occurs, that when the mills are set at liberty from the effects of ice, they are for soine days incapable of throwing against the head in the rivers, owing to the freshes from the high country preventing a discharge of water froin the small into the great rivers. On the other hand, by adopting the means of steam, the engines would be working in full effcet during the continuance of a frost, if necessary, and therefore the ditches would be in a state adequate to the reception of the waters upon a thaw, as what they previously winter season do not throw so much water in execution in the course of a season as three wind-mills; and, consequently, a great saving would accrue in the first expence, and after wards in attendance and repairs.” We find no less than twenty-seven communications on the subject of paring and burning: they all agree in recommending the practice, and form an irresistible body of evidence that the objections arising from. an apparent waste of vegetable matter are totally unfounded. Its efficacy on varous soils is established, the modes of prac tice adopted in different districts explain-* ed, and such subsequent courses of crop-" ping recommended, as experience has shown to be profitable. The most scientific communication, indeed the only one among that title, is by Mr. Morris Birkbeck, who them which has any pretension to reasons upon the chemical effect of paring and burning vegetable matter with great clearness and precision. His communication was worthy of insertion for the theory, and one or two others might have been selected for an explanation of the practice' and a proof of its success: the rest might have been spared. Twenty scraps are inserted on the subject of manures: the powerful operation of caustic lime as a menstruum of dead v‹getable matter is so generally known, that the application of it is very prevalent an new broken-up lands. The only article we find here worth noticing is by Mr. William Curtis, of Lynn, Norfolk, who states in a clear and very encouraging manner the good effects which he derived from burning the stubble on new brokenup land where stover is plentiful this plan will save the farmer a great deal of trouble and expence in mowing, carting, &c. If he takes advantage of a favourable wind and dry season, he may with a candle and lantern spread over his field a surface of ashes, which will be found extremely beneficial to succeeding crops: it is by no means among the slightest advantages of burning, that it destroys the weeds which are left after the crop is taken off, and probably also many of their seeds which had been shed, and would germinate in the following season. Passing over a long list of extracts from the motley mass of matter which the Board of Agriculture received relative to the conversion of grass land into tillage, we come to that more interesting portion of the volume before us which contains the "miscellaneous papers:" these are very properly introduced by Lord Carrington's speech on his retiring from the Presidentship in 1803. In this speech his lordship brings to the remembrance of the Board some of the leading particulars of their transactions, and vindicates them from charges of a very grave nature, which had been urged in the senate. The exertions of the Board in collecting reports of the state of agriculture in all the different counties of the kingdom have been indefatigable: the knowledge thus derived was an essential preliminary to any extended plan of improvement, and soon pointed out a resource against the distress of scarcity, which the friends of humanity did hope would have been recurred to in time to have averted the evil; namely, the inclosure and cultivation of waste lands. The fate of the bill which was brought into Parliament in the year 1797 is well known: it passed the commons, and was thrown out in the house of lords. In the spring of the year 1800 the state of the country with respect to wheatcorn became a matter of very serious and general apprehension. The Board instituted enquiries in different parts of the kingdom, and their fears were confirmed in the fullest extent. Lord Carrington had previously consulted with some of his majesty's ministers, who in consequence made such communications to the India company as led to an agreement on their part to allow the importation of rice from India duty-free; but with specific directions to their servants, " that (whe ther individu should engage or decline embarking in these speculations) they were by no means to send any on the company's account." The Board, fearing that such a restriction would destroy the efficacy of their project, expressed their apprehensions to governan ent, who seemed to listen with attention: no alteration, however, was made by the directors in the orders sent to India, nor did the letters conveying these orders ber date till the 28th of August: the parlamentary bounty also on rice was suffered to expire on the 2d of October. The scarcity grew more urgent: parliament, too late, renewed their bounty on the importation of rice; nineteen thousand tons were imported from India, which arrived-after the abundant harvest of 1801! The article in consequence became a mere drug, and government was called upon to pay three hundred and fifty thousand pounds, in performance of the parliamentary gua rantee to the importees! Thus much for the confidence placed in the judgment of the Board by government; one is almost tempted to ask, for what purpose was it instituted, if so little deference and res spect are paid to its opinions and reports? The year 1800 seemed a well-chosen season to revive the enclosure bill: the Board accordingly sent circular letters to grand juries throughout the kingdom at the summer assizes of that year, erclosing a copy of certain resolutions on this very subject which had been unanimously voted, without any communication with the Board, by the grand jury of the county of York. One of these resolutions, however, stated that, " the want of a fair and permanent compensation to the proprietors, in lieu of tithes in kind, is one of the greatest obstacles, not only to enclosure, but to due improvement of agriculture." When Lord Carrington, in the spring following, as chairman of a com. mittee appointed by the house of lords on account of the dearth of provisions, prepared a bill for enclosing waste lands, a formidable attack was made, not upon the bill directly, so much as upon the Board of Agriculture, whose conduct was represented as inimical to the church es tablishment, and whose only object was, under the pretence of enclosing waste lands, to attack and destroy the institution of tythes. The bill was withdrawn, and since that time no measures have been taken to renew it. This want of perseverance is to be regretted; and we can by no means admit the excuse that, because at so critical a period as that at which the last bill was proposed the measure was rejected, it would therefore have no chance for adoption now the pressure of past circumstances is forgotten. This is acting on presumption that public opinion is totally disregarded in the parliament of the nation let the subject be constantly kept before us, let it be examined in all its bearings; discussion and the statement of exports and imports will make the necessity of the measure more and more clear, will make us familiar with very important facts and reasonings concerning it, and if any sinister and sordid motives operated to the suppression of what shall be acknowledged a public benefit, those motives will be exposed, and the individuals who have been influenced by them held up to contempt and detestation. The voice of the public reaches parliament, and the opinion of the public is not without its influence. On this ground we are desirous to see the question again brought to issue. The next paper is an essay on the management of forests by Mons. Pannelier d'Annel, translated by sir John Talbot Dillon. When the forest laws of France and the ordinance of 1669 were revised, it was deemed expedient, for the purpose of insuring a future supply of timber for the navy, and for architectural purposes, to suffer the forests to remain unmolested during a great length of time, and the trees to grow up in masses in a state of reserve. M. Pannelier d'Annel was appointed to the care of the noble forest of Compeigne in the year 1771, and the pernicious effects of this system were so evident, that he adopted the practice of making periodical falls of timber, and reserving a succession of young trees, which by this means had room for expansion. That trees growing in large masses injure each other is very well known; and we believe that the practice recommended in this memoir is generally adopted in this country. Two or three articles on irrigation are useful on account of accompanying maps, which are illustrative of the operation. Mr. Curwen has communicated his method of steaming potatoes, and given a ground plan and section of the apparatus for that purpose; his horses are fed entirely on this root, with the addition of cut straw; they eat neither hay nor corn, and stand their work remarkably well. Mr. C. was in the habit of cutting annually 300 acres of grass, and generally found the stock of hay produced from that surface of land inadequate to his annual consumption; one acre of potatoes he estimates as equivalent to four acres of hay, and under proper management the ground. will be in as good condition for wheat as if it had lain fallow. Mr. Pierrepoint recommends baking potatoes, and has given a section of the ovens which he employs for that purpose. Mr. Humphrey Davy, in a communication on the analysis of soils as connected with their improvement, has described. those methods which appear most precise and simple, and most likely to be useful to the practical farmer: this very intelligent and valuable communication is accompanied with the engraving of an apparatus for performing the analysis. Dr. Pearson has a scientific and ingenious paper on the use of green vitriol, or: the sulphat of iron, as a manure; in which he endeavours to shew that much of the efficacy of paring and burning depends on the oxyde of iron contained in the ashes. Mr. Estcourt's account of the result of an effort to better the condition of the poor in a country village does great credit to his judgment and his feelings. The planadopted with such happy consequences in every point of view, was to allow every cottager to become the tenant of a small quantity of arable land at a fair rent: no individual was permitted to occupy more than his family could cultivate without improperly interfering with his usual labour. The quantity of land varied according to the size of the family, no share exceeding an acre and an half. It was stipulated that the rent should be 11. 12s. per acre, and that the land should be granted for fourteen years if the tenant required it: the lease to be terminable before the expiration of that period, by the desire of either party, on a previous notice of three years. The land is held under certain restrictions: one-fourth part in each person's occupation is to be annually. manured, and planted with potatoes; the remaining three-fourths to be managed according to the will of the tenant, provided that no two exhausting crops of corn are takenin succession. The lease is to be forfeited if this agreement is violated; it is also to be forfeited if the tenant is lawfully convicted of felony, &c.; or if he receive any relief from the poor-rates except in case |