302 in Scotland. The Earl of Stair, one of their most active members, is said to have been the first who cultivated turnips in that country. The Select Transactions of this society were collected and published in 1743 by Mr Maxwell, who took a large part in its proceedings. It is evident from this book that the society had exerted itself in a very laudable manner, and apparently with considerable success, in introducing cultivated herbage and turnips, as well as in improving the former methods of culture. But there is reason to believe that the influence of the example of its numerous members did not extend to the common tenantry, who a~e always unwilling to adopt the practices of those ivhc are paced in a higher rank, and supposed to cultivate land for pleasure rather than profit. Though this society, the earliest probably in the United Kingdom, soon counted upwards of 300 members, it existed little more than 20 years. Maxwell delivered lectures on agriculture for one or tvo sessions at Edinburgh, which, from the specimen he has left, ought to have been encouraged. In the introductory paper in Maxwell s collection, we are told, that "The practice of draining, inclosing, summer fallowing, sowing flax, hemp, rape, turnip and grass seeds, planting cabbages after, aud potatoes with, the plough, hi iields of great extent, is introduced ; and that, according to the general opinion, more corn grows now yearly where it was never known to grow before, these twenty years last past, than perhaps a sixth of all that the kingdom was in use to produce at any time before." In this work wd find the first notice of a threshing- machine : it was invented by Mr Michael Menzics, advo cate, who obtained a patent for it. Upon a representation made to the society that it was to be seen working in several places, they appointed two of their number to in spect it ; and in their report they say, that one man would be sufficient to manage a machine which would do the work of six. One of the machines was "moved by a great water-wheel and triddles," and another " by a little wheel of three feet diameter, moved by a small quantity of water." This machine the society recommended to all gentlemen and fanners. The next work is by the same Mr Maxwell, printed in 1757, and entitled the Practical Husbandman; being a collection of miscellaneous papers on Husbandry, &c. In this book the greater part of the Select Transactions is re- published, with a number of new papers, among which, an Essay on the Husbandry of Scotland, with a proposal for the improvement of it, is the most valuable. In this he lays it down as a rule, that it is bad husbandry to take two crops of grain successively, which marks a consider able progress in the knowledge of modern husbandry; though he adds, that in Scotland the best husbandmen after a fallow take a crop of wheat ; after the wheat, peas ; then barley, and then oats ; and after that they fallow again. The want of inclosures was still a matter of complaint. The ground continued to be cropped so long as it produced two seeds; the best farmers were contented with four seeds, which was more than the general produce. The first Act of Parliament for collecting tolls on the highway in Scotland was passed in 1750, for repairing the road from Dunglass bridge to Haddington. In ten years after, several Acts followed for the counties of Edin burgh and Lanark, and for making the roads between Edinburgh and Glasgow. The benefit which agriculture lias derived from good roads it would not be easy to esti mate. The want of them was one great cause of the slow progress of the art in former times. The Revolution in 1G88 was the epoch of that system of corn laws to which very great influence has been ascribed, both on the practice of agriculture and the general pro- [RECENT sperity of the country. But for an account of these and later statutes on the subject, we must refer to the article CORN LAWS. The exportation of wool was prohibited in 1647, in 1G60, and in 1688; and the prohibition strictly enforced by subsequent statutes. The effect of this on its price, and the state of the wool trade, from the earliest period to the middle of last century, are distinctly exhibited by the learned and laborious author of Memoirs on Wool, printed in 1747. CHAPTER II. RECENT BRITISH AGRICULTURE. Section 1. Progress during the Eighteenth Century. Before entering upon a description of the agriculture of Great Britain at the present day, it may help to set matters in a clearer light if we take just so much of a retrospect as will serve as a back-ground to our picture. At the beginning of the 18th century the agriculture of our country was still of the rudest kind. With the exception of certain parts of Engknd, the land was still for the most part unenclosed, the live stock of each township grazing together, and the arable land being occupied in common field or run-rig. The practice of fallowing annually a portion of the arable land, and of interposing a crop of peas betwixt the cereal crops, was becoming a common practice, and was a great improvement upon the previous and yet common usage of growing successive corps of white-corn until the land was utterly exhausted, when it was left to recruit itself by resting in a state of nature, while other portions were undergoing the same process. Clover and turnips had been introduced before this date, and were coming gradually into cultivation as field crops in the more advanced parts of England. Potatoes were commonly grown in gardens, but had not yet found their way to the fields. The gradual advance in the price of farm produce soon after the year 17 GO, occasioned by the increase of population and of wealth derived from manufactures and commerce, gave a powerful stimulus to rural industry, augmented agricultural capital, and called forth a more skilful and enterprising race of farmers. The arable lands of the country, which, under the operation of the feudal system, had been split up into minute portions, cultivated by the tenants and their families without hired labour, began nov,- to be consolidated into larger holdings, and let to those tenants who possessed most energy and substance. Thi:j enlargement of farms, and in Scotland the letting of them under leases for a considerable term of years, continued to be a marked feature in the agricultural progress of the country until the end of the century, and is to be regarded both as a cause and a consequence of that progress. The passing of more than 3000 inclosure bills during the reign of Geo. III., before which the whole number was but 241, shows how rapidly the cultivation of new land nov,- proceeded. The disastrous American war for a time interfered with the national prosperity; but with the return of peace in 1783, the cultivation of the country made more rapid progress. The quarter of a century immediately following 1760, is memorable in our agricultural annals for the introduction of various important improvements. It was during this period that the genius of Bakewell produced Bake such an extraordinary change in the character of our moi important breeds of live stock; but especially by the perfecting of a new race of sheep the well-known Leicestei a which have ever since proved such a boon to the country, and have added so much to its wealth. Bakewell s fame as a breeder was for a time enhanced by the improvement
which he effected on the long-horned cattle, then tho
