vill INTRODUCTION.

particular inflances, there appears to have been a Sfeash degree of neglect or inattention, though it muft be allowed that regard is as neceflary oI be cag He thefe as to that of arable cultivation; the connexion between them being fo inti- mate, that however well a farmer may be acquainted with arable practice, unlefs he at the fame time poffeffes the proper knowledge of improving and keeping his grafs lands in order, and of breeding, cee and pera els he muft manage to very confiderable difadvantage. Witbout this knowledge it is impoffible for him to diftinguifh the diffcrent breeds of animals, or know that which is the mot fuitable and beft adapted to the nature, fituation, and circum- ftances of his farm, or to feed them in the moft proper and advantageous methods.

In the infirumental part of hufbandry, though much has been lately done, much is ftill to be accomplifhed before that degree of ceconomy, convenience, and utility is attained that the fubject is capable of admitting, and which the nature of the art requires. It muft however be allowed that valuable additions of this kind are daily introducing themfelves.

The caufes that have produced this flownefs in the progrefs of an art which undoubtedly claims the greateft regard and encouragement are not only numerous but extremely different in their nature. On a near inveftigation of the fubject, it will probably be found that agriculture has however been lefs retarded by the incapacity or inattention of thofe who have been engaged in the practical part of the profedion, than by the different regulations and reftri¢tions with which it has been fettered, and which have been fuffered to continue after the circumf{tances that gave them birth have been either entirely changed or undergone very mate- rial alterations. It is not, however, on this account to be concluded, that the advancement of hufbandry, as a fcience, has not been impeded by the influence of other caufes; it has obvioufly been much reftrained at all times, and efpecially in the more early periods of its cultivation, by the want of a clear and explicit knowledge ofits principles, and of greater precifion and correctnefs in the language made ufe of in their explanation. It has been obferved by an able writer that while a want of due precifion and difcrimination is fuffered to exifi in the definitions and defcriptions of thofe fubftances which conftitute the bafis of agricultural knowledge, it is utterly impoffible that it can be carried to any degree of perfection as a fcience. It is from this ambiguity and incorre¢tnefs in the language of the art, that the cul.

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