ing with great luxuriance, and so naturally adapted to the soil, that if a field were sown with furze only, and live-stock excluded, the ground in the course of a few years would be covered with young oaks, without any trouble or expence of planting.

Before the Norman Conquest, this part of the kingdom was one continued forest, extending from Hampshire into Kent; and the number of parishes ending with the Saxon word, hurst, or wood, are a strong presumption, that they were first cleared and cultivated by settlers from that nation. In the neighbourhood of Salehurst we find no less than eight adjoining parishes ending with this word. At the Conquest, these woods were valued, not by the quantity of tim." ber, but by the number of swine which the acorns maintained.'

We doubt whether Mr. Young is justified in his assertion at the end of this chapter, that the Sussex woods, under proper management, would more than supply the whole Royal Navy.'

It will be sufficient to state, respecting the chapter on Improvements, that it contains observations on Draining, Paring and Burning, Weeding, and Watering Meadows, with a long list of Manures.

The article of Live Stock makes a very respectable figure in this volume. Two plates represent Mercury, a Sussex bull, and Fair Maid, a Sussex cow; and two others exhibit a South down ram and ewe, all in the possession of Mr. Ellman, of Glynd. As the Reporter classes the Sussex red breed of cattle among the best in the kingdom, it may not be amiss to insert a description of a thorough-bred Sussex Ox :

A thin head, and clean jaw; the horns point forward a little, and then turn upward, thin tapering, and long; the eye large and full; the throat clean, no dew-lap; long and thin in the neck; wide and deep in the shoulders; no projection in the point of the shoulder, when looked at from behind; the fore-legs wide; round and straight in the barrel, and free from a rising back-bone; no hanging heaviness in the belly; wide across the loin; the space between the hipbone and the first rib very small; the hip-bone not to rise high, but to be large and wide; the loin, and space between the hips, to be flat and wide, but the fore-part of the carcase round; long and straight in the rump, and wide in the tip; the tail to lay (lie) low, for the flesh to swell above it; the legs not too long, neither thick nor thin on the thigh; the leg thin; shut well in the twist; no fulness in the outside of the thigh, but all of it within; a squareness behind, common in all long-horned beasts, greatly objected to; the finer and thinner in the tail the better. Of these points, the Sussex beasts are apt to be more deficient in the shoulder than in any other part.'

Stall-feeding is recommended, on good principles but Potatoes, either boiled or raw, are reprobated as food for Cows. On the subject of working Oxen and Horses, a very important remark occurs:

'Mr.

Mr Pennington conceives the system of working, only to be profitable whilst the growth of the ox nearly pays for the keeping, and that it cannot do when the ox is hard-worked He thinks that, in the nature of the ox, there are qualities opposite to quick or severe labour; for when the ox is driven beyond his strength or wind, he is rendered unfit for work for a great length of time, and even frequently falls a sacrifice to the exertions of a single hour. When he is brought low in flesh, no art or food will speedily put him into condition. He thinks also, that as the horse is otherwise formed, he will bear the extreme of heat and cold, most frequently without injury, and if brought low by labour, will in a short time, with attention and proper food, recover his flesh,'

These are material facts, which should have their weight in the controversy on this question.

Many pages are occupied on the Sussex breed of sheep: but, as the characters and properties of the South-downers are known to most farmers, and as the details on breed, management, and profit, branch out into various subdivisions, we must refer those to the work itself who are solicitous of information. We pass over other articles of live stock, to notice the section on Pond-Fish; which, however unworthy of attention in most other countries as an object of profit, are of some consequence in Sussex :

The ponds in the Weald are innumerable; and numbers of them date their origin from that part of the county having once been the seat of an extensive iron manufactory, which has now deserted the country; and the mill-ponds now raise large quantities of fish. A Mr. Fenn, of London, has long rented, and is the sole monopolizer of all the fish that are sold in Sussex. Carp is the chief stock; but tench and perch, cels and pike, are raised. A stream should always Mr. Milward flow through the pond; and a marley soil is the best.

the

has drawn carp from his marl-pits 25lb. a brace, and two inches of fat upon them, but then he feeds with pease. When the waters are drawn off and re-stocked, it is done with stores of a year old, which remain four years: the carp will then be 12 or 13 inches long, and if the water is good, 14 or 15. The usual season for drawing water, is either autumn or spring: the sale is regulated by measure, from the eye to the fork of the tail. At 12 inches, carp are worth 50s. and 3 per hundred; at 15 inches, 6.; at 18 inches, 87. and 9. a hundred stores will stock an acre; or 35 brace, 10 or 12 inches long, are fully sufficient for a breeding pond. The first year they will be three inches long; second year, 7; third year, 11 or 12; fourth year, 14 or 15. This year they breed.

Mr. Biddulph has, in Burton-park, a fine reach of water, which yields carp, tench, perch, pike, &c. in great abundance; and as it is an extensive pond, I shall insert some account of the produce.

REV. OCT. 1809.

L

March

March 10, 1789. Number of fish taken out of the Mill pond,

of 50 acres.

1517

473

806

50

2846'

1

In the chapters on Rural Economy, we meet with a table of the prices of labour, judicious remarks on the inadequacy of the wages of agricultural labour to the present high rate of provisions, and some hints on the saving of fuel in cottages: but we think that the reporter has been hummed with an account of a leg of mutton and turnips boiled in a wooden pail, by means of the tube of a fowling piece inserted at the muzzle in the pail. Such a boiling apparatus surpasses all the experiments of Count Rumford.

Political Economy, as connected with agriculture, embraces the usual subjects of Roads, Canals, Fairs, Manufactures, Poor, and Population. Here Mr. Young resumes the consideration of the actual state of the labouring poor, and affords such a picture as no Christian can contemplate but with painful feelings. He sets out with observing that

The present state of this class of people is in many parts of England inferior to what every humane person would wish, and much below that condition which they may reasonably expect in so wealthy a community. Too many of their houses are the residence of filth and vermin; their dress insufficient; their minds uneducated, unin structed; and their children, from insufficiency of earnings, trained to vice; their daughters to follow the easy road to prostitution, and too many of them at last to become injurious, instead of a blessing. Give each man an interest, a stake in the welfare of his country, and we should no longer hear of so many crimes.'

When a fair comparison is made between the incomes and the outgoings of the poor, we shall not be surprized at the misery that prevails, The Reporter gives a table exhibiting at one view the expences and the earnings of six families of labourers by the week and by the year, in the parish of Glynd, in the year 1793; by which it appears that the total annual expence of a family of eight persons was 421. 14s. 4d. while the total annual earnings were only 281. 12s.: that a family of 3 persons expended 181. 1s. 6d., but earned only 131.: that a family of 6 persons expended 361. 148. 2d., and earned only 361. 8s.: that another family of 6 persons expended 371. 8s. 10d. and earned only 311. 4.; that a family of 7 persons expended

40l. 9s. 11d., and earned only 361. 8s.; and that a family of three persons expended 231. 8s. 8d. and earned only 221. 2s.: so that the deficiency of earnings was in the first instance 14l. 28. 2d.; in the second 51. Is. 6d.; in the third 6s. 2d.; in the fourth 61. 4s. 10d.; in the fifth 4l. Is. 11d.; and in the sixth 11. 6s. 8d. These facts require no comment.-Potatoes mixed with flour are not recommended to the poor as economical food : but the right application of this root, for human provision, is stated to be that of roasting or baking it. Though Mr. Young speaks favourably, as far as experiments have gone in Sussex, respecting Houses of Industry, erected at the joint expence of associated parishes, he reprobates the Parish Work-houses as the vilest establishments in the island.-The people in this county are reported to be rapidly multiplying: but the amount of the population is not given.

Among the Obstacles to Improvement the before-mentioned Shaws, which surround the inclosures, Common Rights, and Tithes, are specified; the confusion which reigns in the Weights and Measures is lamented, as in other county-reports; and the work concludes with a short chapter on the means of improvement, in which the author, adverting to the overshadowed state of the Weald, recommends its conversion into a grazing district.-An Appendix contains an account of Lord Sheffield's estate in the Weald; and prefixed is a map, containing a sketch of the soil of Sussex.

In this compilation, Mr. Young has acquitted himself with ability. His style is easy; and his principles are those of a liberal and enlightened economist.

ART. V. A Dictionary of Chemistry and Mineralogy, with an Account of the Processes employed in many of the most important chemical Manufactures. To which are added a Description of Chemical Apparatus, and various useful Tables of Weights and Measures, chemical Instruments, &c. &c. Illustrated with 15 Engravings. By A. and C. R. Aikin. 4to. 2 Vols. pp about 600 in each. 31. 13s. 6d. Boards. Arch, and W. Phillips.

אן

Na modest and well-written preface, the authors of this work point out the principal objects which they have had in view, and state their claims to the attention of the public. They say that they have aimed at giving a faithful and sufficiently-detailed description of all the important facts hitherto discovered in the sciences of chemistry and mineralogy, enlarging more particularly on those parts which are of peculiar interest to the manufacturer and practical chemist.' The collateral sciences, such as Geology, Galvanism, &c. are omitted,

L 2

and

and little is inserted on the history of chemistry: but in allthe accounts of experiments and processes, they have been studiously minute, so as to render their Dictionary a complete Laboratory Guide.' On the subject of the chemical arts and manufactures, they have endeavoured to explain the general principles on which they are conducted, in order that the manufacturer may be enabled to understand the rationale of each process, and thus have the best chance of improving it. They declare also that they have been scrupulously exact in obtaining their information from the original sources, when this could be accomplished; and in all the references that are made, the works have been actually consulted by them. A considerable quantity of new matter, likewise, they state, will be found dispersed through the volumes, which is the result of their own experiments, or has been communicated by their friends.

On this plan, Messrs. Aikin profess to have acted; and, after a careful and long-continued examination of their performance, we deem ourselves justified in reporting that they have fully executed their intentions. In both the practical parts of chemistry, viz. that which respects the scientific experimentalist, and that which more immediately refers to the operations of the chemical artist, the volumes will be found highly serviceable; and we know not any modern work which can come into competition with them. In perusing them, we are unavoidably led to contrast them with publications of a similar kind which have lately appeared in France. M. Chaptal's book, intitled "Chemistry applied to the Arts," may be fairly compared with the corresponding articles in this Dictionary; and we have no hesitation in saying that the merit of the English authors will be rendered the more apparent by the comparison. We cannot express our idea of the relative value of the two productions more fully than by observing, that both are strongly tinctured with the national character of the authors; M. Chaptal is verbose, diffuse, and often entertaining, but often inaccurate; Messrs. Aikin are concise, clear, unassuming, and correct.

If we were to specify any parts of these volumes to which we should give the preference, it would be those which treat on subjects of metallurgy, and of the arts connected with this department. The article Assay is one of those which we should point out as a model. It occupies ten of the closely printed and capacious pages of which the Dictionary is composed, and is of such a nature as to be incapable of either analysis or abridgement. We should also select the article Iron as of great merit, and we think that it may be regarded

as