1302.] On Dibbling Wheat,&e. 463

« In the ignorance of which, I think a man fſatisfa@Æorily knows very little.”

Blith remarks in page 220:—“ Were I to anſwer the queſ- tions as before ſtated, concerning fertility,‘I would..in one word ſay, the chief cauſe of the opening the ſeed, its germinating, expending, and. becoming fruitful, is by the power and aQive principle of anima, or /alnatura contained therein.

« All dungs are urinous, or natural ſalts, and from their aion, ground may be fertiliſed, recovered, amended, and im- proved.’”

Blith, in tranſlating St. Auſtin, enforces that_ 1n:the ſeeds and kernels of fruits, there is a great and wonderful virtue, for being caft into the earth, it ariſeth into a plant, ſpreads itſelf into boughs, branches, and leaves, with fruit. The tree. was before contained in the ſeed, and by the plaſtic powers of nature germi- nates, expands into. a body.

Theſe quotaticns are the ſubſtance of more than 20 pages.

Walter Blith was one of the beſt and moſt expert writers on Agriculture, inthe time of the Common wealth, 1653.

He ſays men were ignorant.

‘That men were ignorant I 50 years ago is pretty clear, and I now fear‘in the year 1802, that the real knowledge as to the formation and growth of plants and animals, and the improve- ment of the ſoil, to their greater produdtion; in theſe purſuits, I fear, the bulk of mankind are yet not much advanced, beyond childhood, as to the powers of land for producing plenty.

Whoever would make themſelves maſters of the proper train for introducing real improvements in Agriculture, ſhould diveſt themſelves of crude opinions, ſtudy nature in nature's own book, the open fhelds, ſecure a few leading principles, compare them ts others more doubtful, then trace out the ſimilarity, and take with appearances as perfe, but upon full examination with cir- cumſpedion.

Left all the advances in improvement reft on rational experience, and be confirmed by real pradtice, with the ſame rigid attention, as when in youth, we were‘taught to trace the progreilive fteps, upon ſound authority, through“the propoſitions and the- orems in the books of Euclid. There we made no advance with- out ſuficient inveſtigation.

Shew an ¿Give mind, and follow theſe inſtu&ions with energy, and the real increaſe of the produétions of the earth may be nearly doubled, to the uſes of man.

‘The Public’s moſt obedient ſervant, WHEAT MA SHEAF. DIEBLING WHEAT, TO YIELD MORE PRODUCTIVE CROPS.

Let.the firſt attempt be a very flight experiment on growing wheat; higher may.come in afterwards.;

Wiſhing, by way of example, to countenance very ſmall ex-