burning lime with peat, as does Mr. Fisher on feeding horses. No. 15. gives the crop of a water-meadow of nine acres at Priestley in Bedfordshire. The valuation of the produce for one year is stated at 150l. 5s. or 161. 13s. 8d. per acre.

These short papers are succeeded by three interesting essays "on the subject of assigning cottages to the poor, intitled Account of a Cottager, by Sir Wm. Pulteney, Bart.-An Account of the Result of an Effort to better the Condition of the Poor in a Country Village; and some Regulations suggested by which the same might be extended to other Parishes of a similar Description, by Thomas Estcourt, Esq. M. P.-Observations on the Means of enabling the Cottager to keep a Coru, by the Produce of a small Portion of arable Land, by Sir John Sinclair, Bart. M.P.; to which is annexed the Case of a Cottager, by Sir Henry Vavasour, Birt. By the side of these, we shall place No. 25. Account of some Cottagers, by Thomas Babington, Esq. M.P. and No. 30. Reasons for giving Lands to Cottagers to enable them to keep Corus, by Thomas Thompson, Esq. Each of these gentlemen proceeds on the same principle, and establishes the same facts. Mr. Estcourt justly observes that one of the best species of charity is that which enables the poor man to exert with effort and with honest freedom, that strength and those faculties which Providence has blessed him with for the benefit and support of his family; and Sir John Sinclair asks whether any one can figure to himself a more delightful spectacle, than to see an industrious cottager, his busy wife, and healthy family, living in a comfortable house, rented by himself, cultivating their little territory with their own hands, and enjoying the profits arising from their own labour and industry? or whether it is possible for a generous landholder, to employ his property with more satisfaction, or in a manner more likely to promote, not only his own, but the public interest, than by endeavouring to increase the number of such cottagers, and encouraging, by every means in his power, the exertions of so meritorious, and so important a class of the community?'-We have so often stated our conviction on this subject, that it is unnecessary to repeat it here: but we cannot refrain from expressing our sa- tisfaction at the support which it receives from these communications; which demonstrate that the poor, if they were liberally treated, would improve in good habits, and cease to be a nuisance and a burden.

The Rev. E. Cartwright's Experimental Essay on Salt as a Manure, and as a Condiment mixed with the Food of Animals, details some nicely conducted experiments, and obtained the gold medal but we question whether they will be regarded

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as satisfactory. At the end, however, he has published a remedy for diseases in hogs, which is worth knowing it is antimony. I can safely aver, (adds Mr. C.) that when taken in time, there are few internal diseases which hogs are subject to, that will not yield to antimony in some form or other. That form which I prefer is emetic tartar, as lying in small compass. I give it in doses from five to forty or fifty grains, according to the age and strength of my patient, and I believe still larger doses might be given with equal safety, as I do not recollect a single instance in which the animal seemed to suffer from being over-dosed.'

No. 22. includes Lord Meadowbank's Observations on Manures. It has been often remarked that manures, in the common practice, are too much exhausted in dung-hills before they are put on the land; and in order to avoid this evil, some persons have gone to the opposite extreme of carting it on the land from the stable door. Lord M. recommends a middle course. His doctrine is that

The first made dung should be retained in a state of fermentation, so slow or imperfect that it may suffer little till, after being turned over with the later made dung, it forms one powerfully fermenting mass; and that then it should be put into the soil, when the process is so far advanced that it will be completed, when at the same time little loss of substance has yet been suffered, and when what volatile matter is afterwards extricated will diffuse itself through the soil. In these circumstances every thing is lodged in the soil that the dung can yield, either in point of mass or activity; and at the same time it is in a state, when most likely to act as a powerful ferment, for promoting the putrefaction of the decayed vegetables lying inert in the soil."

In treating on the Culture of Beans, Mr. Curwen recommends that they should be cut green.

Sir Joseph Banks's Short Account of the Cause of Blight in Corn has been already noticed in M. R. Vol. xlvi. N.S. p.422.

Mr. Wright, of Pickworth, Rutlandshire, presents the results of a series of experiments on burnt-straw, stable-dung, and rotten dung, as manures. In one instance, burnt straw bears away the palm: but, as one swallow does not make a summer, neither does an individual experiment ascertain the validity of aprinciple for general practice.

Dr. Belcher affords (No. 28.) the result of experiments on the salts of urine as a manure. He found that so small a weight as five grains of the seda phosphorata and of the ammonia phosphorata, mixed with sifted gravel in a pot, made the produce more than quadruple to that which took place in the pot in which only gravel was used. Supposing the urine of

cattle

cattle to be equally productive with human urine, Dr. B. calcu lates that every hogshead, which is imprudently suffered to flow out of a farm-yard, carries away seven pounds and a half of dry fetid matter.

A letter from Dr. Campbell to Lord Carrington, dated Fort Marlbro', March 5, 104, affords the pleasing information that the nutmeg and clove trees are perfectly naturalized in the island of Sumatra, and have found there a congenial cli mate and soil. Dr. C. strenuously recommends that a light sailing vessel should be sent from Jamaica to Sumatra, for the purpose of importing the black pepper vine into the West Indies, where he is confident that it would flourish.

Mr. Cotes, after much display, gives directions for making what he calls a Potatoe fallow on strong soils: but strong soils are not well adapted to Potatoes; and the efficacy which he attributes to a two bout ridge, in creating new earth, appears to us imaginary.

Sir Henry Vavasour offers an account of an humble seminary for agricultural education, established in his own village; the object of which is to instruct the infant poor, by means of a garden attached to the parish school-house, in the whole process of horticulture, including grafting, pruning, mixing manures, &c.

Mr.

On the Form of Animals. By Henry Cline, Esq. Surgeon. The very judicious remarks contained in this paper merit circulation among all breeders of domestic animals. Cline exposes the serious evils which have resulted from the opinion, that the breed of animals is improved by the largest males; and his doctrine is that, when the male is much larger than the female, the offspring is generally of an imperfect form; but if the female be proportionally larger than the male, the offspring is of an improved form.' Examples of the truth of this position are adduced. The great improvement of the breed of horses in England arose from crossing with those diminutive stallions, Barbs, and Arabians; and the introduction of Flanders mares in this country was the source of improvement in the breed of cart-horses. The form of the swine has also been improved, by crossing with the small Chinese boar.' On the other hand, when it became the fashion in London to drive large bay horses, the farmers in Yorkshire put their mares to much larger stallions than usual, and thus did infinite mischief to the breed, by producing a race of small chested, long legged, large boned, worthless animals.' Mr. Cline's general conclusion is, that it is wrong to enlarge a native breed of animals; for in proportion to their increase of size, they Bb3 become

become worse in form, less hardy, and more liable to disease.'

In giving an outline of the multifarious contents of this volume, we have been obliged to observe a degree of brevity which may not in all cases be satisfactory, and still this article occupies more space than we can with convenience assign to it. Our readers will perceive by it that the communications to the Board of Agriculture continue to be ample and various; and that, like the publications which occasionally issue from other societies, the contents of the volume before us are of unequal merit. A first part of Vol. V. is recently published.

ART. VI. Short Discourses to be read in Families. By William Jay. 2 Vols. 8vo. 18s. Boards. Williams and Smith, &c.

ΤΗ HE art of preaching is professed by many and understood by few. Common hearers are not captivated either by cold reasoning or by pompous declamation. In order to awaken and keep alive an interest in their minds, the orator must accommodate himself to their habits of thinking; his language must be familiar without being vulgar; he must dissect the human heart with adroitness; his explanation of scripture must be easy and natural; and his exhortations to practice must appear to flow obviously from his premises, and be urged by motives which make a forcible appeal to the man and to the christian. Discourses which are admired in the closet, by men of cultivated minds and refined taste, do not make a strong impression on popular assemblies. The looser harangues of extemporary preachers are known to command attention, when laboured argument and well turned periods excite languor and yawning; and mere ranters draw crowds, while frigid reasoners address themselves to empty pews. What should preachers learn from these facts? We answer: they should study the qualities of that eloquence which is adapted to the multitude; they should consider that, though the ranter often abounds in nonsense and tautology, he generally talks to be understood and felt; and it is worth while to analize the source of that satisfaction which the multitude derives from his addresses. It is to be feared that a part of the charm consists in what may be called the addities and excentricities of popular preachers, and that some are followed on the same principle which carries auditors to the representation of a comedy or a farce: but this is not the whole of the motive, nor the prevailing cause with the majority. There is

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a captivating eloquence which is not comic; there is a mode of preaching which is at once serious and popular; which is undebased by indecorous sallies, and yet is animated and attractive. By this middle course, the mass of hearers is accommodated, and the judicious few are not disgusted. We are ready to allow that this is a medium not easily attained: but the trial should be made, especially by regular ministers, to prevent the inroads of fanaticism."

Mr. Jay is a preacher who discovers some of the leading traits of the popular orator. With a memory completely stored from the scriptures, he possesses an easy habit of explaining them. He has a knack of placing little incidents in a practical point of view. His divisions are clear, his sentences are short, and his march of thought is rapid. He does not labour points of doctrine: but assuming the articles of his orthodox creed as data, he converts them to moral purposes. His arguments and illustrations are levelled, sometimes with extreme familiarity, to the meanest capacities. In his manner, he aims at originality; and though his mode of dividing subjects displays a general sameness, it is evident that he is solicitous of variety. He certainly has the power of keeping hearers awake. Each text is so ramified, that every part may produce a distinct effect. The application of the characters and circumstances which occur in gospel history, to the use of modern christians, is forcible; and the great object of the preacher is to induce professors to shew their faith by their works.

These short discourses, then, are calculated to answer the purpose for which they are composed. They are intended to be of such a length that they may be read in fifteen or twenty minutes, though most of them will require more time for the delivery; and the lessons which they afford are chiefly deduced either from the historical parts of scripture which hold forth the duties of religion in examples or instances, or from the figurative which explain divine things by resemblance.' Mr. Jay tells us that his wish has been to engage the particular attention of servants and children, but that he has not confined his views to them. To shew his catholicism, though a dissenter, he has prepared discourses adapted to all the great festivals of the Established Church.

The Address to Masters of Families, which precedes these discourses, is manly and spirited. It exhorts them to act on a steady principle of duty, independently of the example of others. We highly applaud Mr. Jay for venturing to reprobate that religious dissipation, as he terms it, which induces Christians to sacrifice the duty of family worship and exhortation, to the habit of what he calls lounging in places of

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