moft want tillage, either to destroy the weeds, fupply the roots with fresh earth in the room of that which they had exhausted, to divide a-new the earthy particles, or to enable the roots to extend themselves with ease, and to collect a great deal of food for the plants, which are then in great want of it.'

With regard to the advantages of faving the feed; it is ef fential to the new husbandry, that care be taken not to fow too thick, that the roots of every plant may have room to extend, in order to collect a quantity of food. We are next instructed in the method of practifing the new hufbandry by handboeing; which, in a well-peopled country, where labour is cheap, he says, is very easy-[but labour, we apprehend, must be extremely cheap indeed, to render that method at all profitable.]-To obviate this inconvenience, therefore, we are next presented with a method of practising the new husbandry with the common implements.

But here we are warned not to attempt this husbandry in lands that are difficult of tillage; for this method, profitable as it may appear, must not not be undertaken till lands are brought into good tilth.He next gives a fummary of the necessary works in the new husbandry, when it is executed with the plow. He fuppofes a drill, a plow proper to work betwixt the rows, and a cultivator, to have been provided; and then directs the different works to be done with each: but for thefe, as well as M. de Lignerolle's remarks on the practice of the new hufbandry, together with answers to the chief objections that have been made thereto, we must refer to the book, wherein the Reader will find those points very judiciously handled.

As the proper cultivation of lands depends much on the goodness of the inftruments made ufe of; the feventh book (which begins the fecond volume) treats of the feveral inftruments of husbandry, viz. plows of different kinds, cultivators, drills, &c. but as the defcriptions of many of these cannot be sufficiently understood without the plates; we proceed to book VIII. which treats of the culture of different kinds of grain; in regard to which, we meet with little more than the ufual methods.

Book IX. is upon the fubject of meadow and pafture land, which being a general one, we fhall give an extract of what is faid upon the proper management of natural paftures, or grafslands.-1. In the fpring, the ftones must be picked off, and the mole-hills beat down, that the land may lie level, and the fcythe (if intended for hay) go clofe to the ground.-2. Every two or three years manures fhould be laid on them, such as well-rotted dung, the fcourings of ponds and ditches, afhes, or

foot.

foot. Pigeons dung is good to kill mofs and rufhes; it makes the fweet grafs grow apace; but the feathers, which do not rot, mixing with the hay, give horses troublesome coughs. Long dung fhould never be laid on pastures; for when the straw has been washed by rain, the grafs raifes it from the ground, and mixing with the hay lowers its value.-3. For deftroying mofs, it is proper to cut paftures with M. de Chateauvieux's coulterplough, [defcribed in book VII. fect. 9.] and to spread dung upon them in December or January, but afhes not till March

4. Every time dung is laid on paftures, it would not be amiís to scatter the fweepings of hay-lofts, and a little [white] clover-feed on them. Thus managed, they bear the beft grafs for hay, and afterwards afford a good rowen for cattle.-It must not be imagined, that natural paftures require neither care nor expence; but both will be fufficiently answered, according to M. Duhamel; who fays, that, by following the practices here recommended, he has had more hay from fix arpents [or acres] of land, in his own hands, than his tenants had from thirty, of the fame kind of land.-The beft feafon for cutting grafs for hay, he fays, is before the bloom is paft; not only because the hay will thereby be better for the cattle, but also because a fecond crop may be had the same season, or at least there will be very good [after] pafture.

But when land is not adapted to natural grafs, we must have recourfe to artificial pastures; which are made by fowing welltilled land with certain plants, which grow apace, and yield a great deal of fodder for cattle. These are either annual or perennial. The annuals are peas for fheep, vetches, Indian corn or maize, rye, and bear or winter barley. The perennial plants. are faintfoin, lucerne, clover, ray-grafs, &c.-Lucerne, being one of the most valuable plants cultivated for artificial pasture, we shall give an extract of what M. Duhamel fays of it, as follows. Lucerne thrives beft in light lands that have a great depth; it does not fucceed in dry parching foils, nor in clay; though it requires fome moisture. If it is flooded, and the water remains long on it, it dies.'-Lucerne is foon choaked with other plants: it must therefore be fowed on land quite clear of weeds and grafs, and brought into excellent tilth by frequent

We cannot help thinking this a great deal too late, to answer the end defigned, as the warm weather will come on fo foon after, even before the afhes can be well washed into the ground. We fhould therefore rather advise their being fpread upon the land in November, when the grafs is eaten down as clofe as poffible: then the mofs being laid bare will receive the whole force of this hot dreffing, which will alfo be washed down to the roots of the grafs by the winter's rains, and thereby promote their fhoot ng in the spring.

deep plowings. It fhould be fown in March, [or April.] Three or four ounces of feed will spread a fquare perch of twenty-two feet. But as Lucerne does not thrive in the neighbourhood of other plants; it must be carefully cleared of weeds; which is moft cafily accomplished in the new husbandry. It fucceeds beft, therefore, when fowed in fingle rows, at three feet diftance one from another. Every time the lucerne is cut (which may be when in full prime, three or four times a year) the intervals must be ftirred, to deftroy the weeds, and give a paffage to the moisture: and fometimes the intervals should be refreshed with well-rotted dung; that of pigeons very proper.

To have lucerne continue long in perfection, it must never be fed with cattle, but always mowed when the flowers are halfexpanded.'

-This Book is concluded by an account of roots cultivated as food for cattle, viz. potatoes, Jerufalem artichokes, turnips, radishes, and carrots ;-to which we would add parsnips, as inferior to no other root.

-In Book X. the new husbandry is applied to the culture of Several kinds of plants; as pulfe, various forts of kitchen-gardenplants, and roots; which are faid to be much more vigorous, when cultivated in this manner, than in the common method. It is alfo recommended for the culture of flax, hemp, and teafils; for it may be laid down as a general maxim, that land intended for thefe plants ought to be extremely well stirred and meliorated by plowings and manures, and all along kept clear of weeds; which may undoubtedly be beft effected by what is called the new husbandry.

Book XI. gives the culture of fome plants fit for dyers ufe; as weld, woad, faffron, and madder,-to each of which a diftinct chapter is allotted. The laft of thefe being a very material article to the commerce of these kingdoms; and M. Duhamel having been very full and explicit in his directions for the management of it; we heartily recommend what he has faid upon the fubject, to all who are inclined to cultivate a root of such general ufe in our woollen manufactures, and which we now chiefly import from abroad. But though we cannot afford room for an abstract of this very important chapter, on account of its extraordinary length; yet we hope the following paragraphs, (copied from the Conclufion) may induce fome of our Readers to perufe the whole, and try the fuccefs of it in our own country.

After what has been faid on the culture of madder, and on the conftruction of kilns and mills, [for drying and pounding it] there is room to hope, that every intelligent planter will be

in

in a capacity of raising a plant, which cannot fail fatisfying him for his expence and trouble: it is certainly [too] a capital confideration, that madder does not impoverish land, and that the culture, which this plant requires, puts the earth in a ftate of bearing every kind of grain in abundance.'-The following confiderable advantages may be expected from the culture of madder.-1. A reasonable profit by the fale of the root.-2. A confiderable improvement to our lands.-3. The fatisfaction of giving employment, and, of courfe, a means of living to fo many women and children, as are neceflary for the proper management of it.

Book XII. and laft, confifts wholly of reflections on agricul ture:-but as feveral of these reflections are not quite fo pertinent here, in England, as they may have been in France, where the Author wrote; we fhall pass them over, with only obferving, that they frequently fhew indifputable marks of good fenfe, and a quick difcernment in probable confequences.

Upon the whole, though M. Duhamel's ftyle, in this performance, fometimes appears a little abrupt and unconnected, (owing, perhaps, to its being a kind of abridgment of his former pieces) yet it must be allowed to contain a large fund of rural knowledge, and is well worthy the perufal of all lovers of agriculture.

The plates are intended to illuftrate the nature of various machines, &c. described, and referred to, in the course of the work, and appear to be well executed.

P.

Obfervations on the four Gospels; tending chiefly, to afcertain the Times of their Publication; and to illuftrate the Form and Manner of their Compofition. By the Rev. Dr. Henry Owen, Rector of St. Olave in Hart-ftreet, and Fellow of the Royal Society, Octavo. 2 S. T. Payne.

HE Author of thefe Obfervations differs, in feveral par

Tticulars, from the generality of other learned writers up

on the fame fubject. His obfervations, however, appear to be the refult of a fincere and impartial enquiry after truth, and, confequently, are intitled to a candid and favourable reception. The fubject is, undoubtedly, important; and if the plan which he has exhibited be just in the main, there is, as he obferves, a new field of criticiim opened, where the learned may ufefully employ their abilities, in comparing the feveral gofpels toge ther, and raifing obfervations from that comparative view.

REV. July 1764.

He remarks, that the accounts left us by the ecclefiaftical writers of antiquity, concerning the times when the gospels were penned or published, are too vague, confufed, and difcordant, to lead us to any folid or certain determination. The oldeft of the antient fathers collected the reports of their own times, and fet them down for certain truths; and those who followed, adopted their accounts, with implicit reverence. Thus, traditions of every fort, true or falfe, paffed on from hand to hand without examination, until it was almoft too late to examine them to any purpose.

There being, then, according to our Author, but little dependence placed on external proofs, he enquires whether any thing can be inferred from the internal conftruction of the gofpels themfelves, and thinks it natural to conclude that when the first Evangelift had penned his gofpel, it was foon publifhed and difperfed abroad among the various affemblies of Chriftians; who would be eager to obtain a true and genuine account of the words and actions of the founder of their religion, that is, of thofe things in which they had been inftructed, and upon which their faith was founded. Hence then we may farther conclude, he thinks, that the fecond Evangelift was perfectly acquainted with the writings of the firft: and that the third, when he wrote, perused the gofpels of the other two; which he might apply, in part, to his own ufe, making what additions he thought proper.

To clear the way to the proof of this, it is neceffary to determine, Dr. Owen thinks, which of the facred hiftorians is, in reality, to be accounted the firft; which the fecond; and which the third; for much depends upon this queftion. He obferves, that, in penning their gofpels, the facred hiftorians had a conftant regard as well to the circumftances of the perfons, for whofe ufe they wrote; as to the feveral particulars of Chrift's life, which they were then writing.' It was this, our Author fays, that regulated the conduct of their narration,that frequently determined them in their choice of materials,and, when they had chofen, induced them either to contract or enlarge, as they judged expedient,-in fhort, it was this that modified their hiftorics, and gave them their different colourings.

Now, if the gofpels were thus modelled, as our Author apprehends they were, to the ftate, temper, and difpofition of the times in which they were written. Then are we furnished with certain criteria, by which we may judge of their respective dates. For those times, whofe actions accord with the turn of

7

the