plates and descriptions of it given by the plagiary, (although, to conceal the theft, not without some deterioration), is now duly appreciated elsewhere, and practised in different parts of the kingdom.

It has been somewhere observed, that it is a hard and nice subject for an author to speak of his own productions; inasmuch as it is unpleasant to himself to say any thing of disparagement, and to the reader to hear any thing like commendation. I however hope that I may here, without ostentation on my own part, or offence to others, appeal to the judgment and candid decision of the latter in support of a system of machinery calculated for a culture of our lands, wherein perhaps may be found something superior to what has been hitherto observed.

Frequently witnessing and ever conscious of the inadequacy of all modes hitherto employed for drawing forth, and, with necessary precision, deciding on the comparative merits of that basis of human weal, the Plough; the writer was, some years since, instigated to a public display and demonstration of the fact. The result, Gentlemen, he had the honour, by your suffrages, of having publicly recorded in the twelfth volume of your Papers; and for which he was further honoured by the Society with a munificent present in Plate: still, although no experiment of the kind, even throughout Europe, or any other quarter of the globe, stands on record in any degree equal to it, and incredible, and even repugnant to common sense, as it may to many appear, no further notice was any where within our own boundaries taken of it; although an increased foreign demand for similar ploughs has in consequence taken place.

An existing fact so notorious, publicly witnessed, and that could afterwards be suffered to slide so easily away, can probably be only exceeded by its not having any

where excited even an enquiry into the cause; and as it might appear invidious in the writer to allude at all to the consistency of Societies, now every where establishing themselves, for the encouragement of agriculture, he can only recommend the subject to their future discussions and determination.

Knowledge," says a great and learned author, "is indeed the foundation, the first principle, and, as it were, the parent of wisdom, but it is not wisdom itself. Wisdom builds upon knowledge a superstructure by so much the more noble and excellent, as beneficial practice is preferable to mere visionary and inactive speculation. Wisdom is knowledge digested, and applied to its right use, to the contriving and producing order and good upon the whole. There may be knowledge without any design; but design is essentially included in the idea of wisdom. Wisdom consists first in the deliberate proposing the best and fittest end; and, secondly, of the

In Weld's Tour to Killarny in Ireland, we have the following anecdote:-" At a place called Reen, within Bantry Bay, the plough was absolutely unknown till the present clergyman introduced it. Immense crowds immediately flocked down from the neighbouring mountains to examine the novel instrument; and its operations were, beheld with wonder. To those of his parishioners who were inclined to employ it in the cultivation of their ground: the proprietor readily offered to lend it; and numerous applications were in consequence made. Shortly, however, the plough ceased to be in request; even the sight of it appeared to be cautiously shunned. That an instrument productive of such an obvious and immediate saving of labour should be thus discarded seemed somewhat extraordinary; but to unravel the mystery was not difficult. The people had been reminded that their forefathers had dug the ground; that the plough was an innovation. An unanimous resolution was instantly made to follow the steps of their ancestors; every argument to the contrary proved ineffectual; and when we visited Reen, the ground still continued to be cultivated with the spade!"

fixed choice and steady pursuit of the most proper and effectual means, in order to promote it."

Where a just application of the sentiments of authors of the first reputation happens to coincide with our ideas, it may probably be allowable, if not most eligible, to adopt them. And if Adam Smith's positions are to be relied on, that our political as well as animal support is to be derived only from our lands; and that, in the end of things, their produce, and our exertions in cultivating them, alone constitute our real wealth; I fear, the exigencies of the times considered, the total want of design in the general costume of our agricultural concerns will be but too apparent. And here I would humbly appeal for information to any power I could deem capable of removing that general dereliction, from whence is seen to proceed the many and just causes of our complaints, whether, in a national or political point of view, a provision should be found in the code of British laws, whereby a renter of a thousand acres of land, and wherein, if in his power, he ought in duty to his family, his landlord, and his country, to invest at least five pounds an acre, with a view to profits at seven, fourteen, or twentyone years end, and a cobler, howsoever happy in his stall, should each of them be equally under a necessity of quitting his occupation at six months notice? Or if a tenant at will, conscious of a liability to be turned out at even twelve months end, and yet seen strenuously adhering to our most generally approved fix-field routine of cropping, and therein expending, with a view to remuneration at six years end, from five to ten pounds an acre

"The unproductive class, that of merchants, artificers, and manufacturers, (says Adam Smith,) are maintained altogether at the expense of land proprietors and cultivators; they furnish it both with the materials of its work, and with the fund of its subsistence.',

to

to secure a crop of turnips, for instance, as its basis; whether such his strenuous adherence may not proceed from some trifling debility of mind, or imbecility of intellect? And whether, however well disposed, he may be afterwards most eligibly brought forward for eliciting improvement in the most abstruse of all sciences, and of therein ratifying the stability of his country's weal?

TO BE CONTINUED IN OUR NEXT.

List of Patents for Inventions, &c.

(Continued from Vol. XXXIII. Page 384.) CHARLES WATT, of Ratcliff Highway, Middlesex, Surgeon; for gilding and preparing quills and pens by manual labour and chemical operations, so as to render them more durable and useful. Dated October 31, 1818.

NICHOLAS DESFORGES, of Bucklersbury, London, Merchant; for certain improvements in propelling boats and other vessels. Dated October 31, 1818.

JOHN BOGAERTS, of Air-street, Piccadilly, Middlesex, Gentleman; for a method or methods for raising and lowering water on canal locks. Communicated to him by a person residing abroad. Dated November 10, 1818.

EDWARD WOOLLEY, of Bilston, Staffordshire; for an improvement in the machinery for making wood screw forgings. Dated November 10, 1818.

JAMES INGLEDEW, of Little College-street, Westminster, Middlesex, Licensed Victualler; for the means of effecting a saving in the consumption of the ordinary articles of fuel, by the application of certain well-known materials hitherto unused for that purpose. Dated November 10, 1818

MOSES

MOSES POOLE, of Lincoln's Inn, Middlesex, Gentleman; for the application of known mastics or cements to various purposes, such as modelling statues, making slabs, raising or impressing figures, or other ornamental appearances; also the covering of houses, and in any other manner in which mastic or cement may or can be applied. Communicated to him by a person residing abroad. Dated November 10, 1818.

JOHN GRAFTON, late of London, and now of Edinburgh, Engineer; for a process or method of making carboretted hydrogen gas, for the purpose of illumina tion. Dated November 10, 1818.

JAMES HADDEN, Junior, of Aberdeen, Scotland, Woollen-manufacturer; for an improvement in preparing, roving, and spinning of wool. Dated November

12, 1818.

GEORGE JAMES CLARK, of Bath, Somersetshire, Working Cutler; for an apparatus for the more easily applying the drag to a carriage wheel. Dated November 12, 1818.

WILLIAM STYLES, of Islington, Middlesex, Carpenter; for certain improvements in machinery for sifting cinders, and discharging the cinders so sifted into a convenient receptacle; which machinery is applicable to other useful purposes. Dated November 12, 1818.

ELISHA HAYDEN COLLIER, late of Boston, America, but now of Charter House-square, London, Gentleman; for an improvement in fire-arms of various descriptions; which improvement is also applicable to cannon. Dated November 24, 1818.

JAMES FRASER, of Long Acre, St. Martin in the Fields, Middlesex, Coppersmith and Engineer; for new and original junction of tunnels in a steam-boiler; also new flues in the said steam-boiler, or the furnace connected