which makes so many books of agricultural instruction utterly useless.
Thus, in so small a matter as the sowing of clover-seed, he tells how
the thumb and finger should be held, for its proper distribution; in
stacking, he directs how to bind the thatch; he tells how mown grass
should be raked, and how many hours spread;[I] and his directions for
the making of clover-hay could not be improved upon this very summer.
"Stir it not the day it is cut. Turn it in the swath the forenoon of the
next day; and in the afternoon put it up in small cocks. The third day
put two cocks into one, enlarging every day the cocks till they are
ready for the tramp rick [temporary field-stack]."

A small portion of his book is given up to the discussion of the theory
of agriculture; but he fairly warns his readers that he is wandering in
the dark. If all theorists were as honest! He deplores the ignorance of
Tull in asserting that plants feed on earth; air and water alone, in his
opinion, furnish the supply of plant-food. All plants feed alike, and on
the same material. Degeneracy appearing only in those which are not
native: white clover never deteriorates in England, nor bull-dogs.

But I will not linger on his theories. He is represented to have been a
kind and humane man; but this did not forbid a hearty relish (appearing
often in his book) for any scheme which promised to cheapen labor. "The
people on landed estates," he says, "are trusted by Providence to the
owner's care, and the proprietor is accountable for the management of
them to the Great God, who is the Creator of both." It does not seem to
have occurred to the old gentleman that some day people might decline to
be "managed."

He gave the best proof of his practical tact, in the conduct of his
estate of Blair-Drummond,--uniting there all the graces of the best