The Sun.
London, England, 1804-11-14 00:00:00

DICKSON',' ACRICULTURE.

41401441 the striking features by which the late
eta,
f —tifY Will 'be rendeted memorable in the history
is unkind, the most prominent and most pleasing
wllSaralleled progress of the Arts and Sciences ;
'eh they have been aided, as well by the pub.
- spirit of individuals, as by the various National
un,ablishments in different parts of Europe. In so
Withnoble, an emulation our own Countty can
t;;confidence claim a distinguished place ; and
"ng its foremost pretensions may justly advance
11.4,! of having rescued Agriculture from the degra.
cion to which it had been hitherto uniformly
?s3Oineels by being considered as exclusively the
elevated this
of the.mechanical operator ; and of having
r.4.vaied thiS most ancient and valuable art into an
1.4e0 of liberal and. enlightened study, and scion.
o research.
l: Ilia indeed, upon cool and mature reflelion,
tic w
te:appear a onderful.epoch in the annals both of
nee and of Man. The union of the two charac.
of doe he man of enlarged and comprehensive mind,
tan, the
and accurate thinking, with the husband.
tna,the mere tiller of the ground (die former
to the
in every civilized age, as the highest
e !cale of Sociely ; the latter, perhaps, as thet
lug teliiii was a novelty worthy of adding to t
iiker-peven of the Eighteenth Century. It was not,
aba,e-cHeniPorary Revolutions, „the wild and unjust
rnent f all that was most dignified ; but the
not teji exaltation of What was must humble : it was
.oent' iota tue dradation. of the man of liberal attain-
the coarsen
esa of the rustic but the

taking which the state of the agricultural art began
every day more imperiously to demand. In too
many instances the professional farmer aflually con.
gratulated himself that he had not been seduced into
the maze of visionary improvement, where even the
man of real taste and science was lost and bewilder.
ed amidst the jarring and irreconcilcable details of
experimenters. The nineteenth century could not
open more . auspiciously than with the performance
of such a task, if Weed its performance were
possible; hut of this, all who turned their thoughts
to the subjeCt despaired; and our own curiosity,
much more than our hope, was excited by the an.
nouncement lately of a Work under the title of " A
esgullete System of PraCtical Agriculture,. including
the newest Improvements ;" by Dr. R. W. Dick.
sox, of Hendon*.

This great work is divided into Sections, of
which,the first treats of the implements of husban.
dry ; and in this the merits and uses of ploughs,
sVhcel-ploughs, drill.machines, hoes, scarificts and
scalers, drags, harrows, rollers, thrashing and win.
flowing machines, chaff-cutters,
,rakes, and wheel
carriages of every description, are discussed at con.
siderable length, and with much interesting and
useful originality of method. Sedion 2. is on the
subject of farmhouses and offices'; and here we find
farmhouses, barns, granaries, stables, cow and feed-
ing houses, dairies, the out-offices, and numerous
other buildings (which it is unnecessary minutely
to mention, as they will readily occur to the far.
mer),-considered with regard to their construCtion,
form, arrangement and disposal, and improvement,
,in the manner required by a point of such essential
importance to the comfort and convenience, as well
as ,the prosperity, of every farm. Section 3. is on
the too much neglected subject of farm.cottages, and
the condition of cottagers in general. Section 4. is
on inclosing of land, and contains some judicious
remarks on the great national question of inclo.
sures ; fences, walk, hedges, &c. naturally find
a place for discussion in this SeCtion. SeCtion 5.
treats of the construtlion of roads ; and era.
mines, both mechanically and geometrically, the
questions of the forms and directions of roads,
and the forms of wheels : there is much curious no-
velty in the examination as here concluded. Sec.
lion 6. is on the important subjeti of soils,
* Dr. bickson, we believe, never before published any
work on this stalled, and is not the Dr, Dickson who pnb-
lithett ou Agrieultureolthe

The general condua of this extensive work"is,
truly admirable. The style is uncommonly clear
and precise;' and while by its simplicity it is per..
feftly adapted to the capacity of every intelligent
professional farmer, even its literary merit alone
would be sufficient to recommend it to the notie'of
Gentlemen of superior intellectual acquirements. No
subject is started without being fully developed and
discussed : the references to former publications,
without being so numerous as to appear pedantic or
ostentatious, are such as may be both useful and ac.
ceptable : there is no succession of multiplied quo.
rations ;—but in each page it may be !seen. that die
Author has skilfully extratled the substance ofeVery
thing valuable which preceding Writers had stated
.on the point in question, blending together the re-
sults with the addition of much judicious and ori.
ginal remark ; while his own. pradical knowledge
has enabled him, with great sagacity, to rejea what...
ever is injurious in the fanciful and extravagant no-
tions to which unrestrained theory has given rise,
and to admit only so much of these as may supply
probable and well.founded hints for future specu.
lators. It is in this article that the solidity of his
judgment has been displayed with great advantage
but a very peculiar and striking benefit is derived
to his work from the Author's intimate acquaint_
ance with the modern discoveries in themirtty, and
the penetration with which he applies its principles
to the operations of nature in the different processes
of vegetation, at the same, time in so familiar and
happy a method as to render this hitherto-difficult
and abstruse subjea universally intelligible.
We understand that Dr. DICKSON has spent ten
years in bringing his first publication
(" The gather'd treasure of a hundred volurnes,")
to perfedion, and that it has been several years in
the press. In return, his pains will, .without doubt,
be amply compensated by seeing it become (as. it
assuredly must) the companion of every professional
as well at every experimental farmer : to the former
of whom it will save the expense of purchasing a
complete library on his art ; and to the' latter, the
perpetual trouble of consulting-that which he may
already possess. For our own part, we can with
the greatest satisfaefion recommend. this sing'alar
produalon, as likely to prove, of incalculable utility
to the agricultural interests of. the British Empire,
and as forming an eta in the history of Agriculture,
This Work, which will certainly be hencefor-
ward (at least till the principles now established
shall be entirely superseded by further discoveries)
the OTAN.DABD BOOK on Agricultural Subjects, has its
pratical utility greatly augmented (my the addition
of nearly a hundred Inge engravings, many of them
coloured from nature.; and may be pronounced from
this circumstance, as well as from the Van quantity
of printed matter which it contains, the cheapest
Publication which has yet appeared in any depart.
meet of art or science. It is dedicated, by per.
mission, to the Right Hon. Lord CARBI2s6TON,
late President of the Board of Agriculture; and it
cannot be doubted that its' merits 'will obtain it the
notice and patronage of the etasT Practical Farmer
in his mil Dominions, as well as of 'the astir.
FARmnas'among his Sul"►jefts.