INTRODUCTION.

ARLX in the Spring of 1793, the Board of Agriculture took into its conſideration the dearneſs of proviſions; and, among the various ideas which were with the moſt pa- triotic views expreſſed on that occaſion, none ſeemed to merit ſo immediate an attention, as to encourage, by ſuch means as were in the power of the Board, a more extenſive Cultivation of Potatoes; the early ſorts of which root pro- miſing a remedy to a deficiency of corn late in the ſummer; and other forts tending to add greatly to the national ſtock of food, fhould the ſcarcity continue beyond the harveft. The Board was particularly called to this object of their attention, in a ſpeech from the Preſident, at an extraordinary meeting, held on the Ioth of February: an Extract of which, from the minutes, is here inſerted, as explaining the origin of the following publication.