A G R
A G R
millet. Several great lords carry the feed to be fowed, in rich boxes j and the whole court affifts in filence. The em- peror takes the plough in hand, and, after feveral goings and returns, gives it to a prince of the blood, he* in his turn, to another, till the field is ploughedi When all is over, the governor of Pekin makes frequent viiits to this field, infpects the furrows, and feeks for ears extraordinary, and of good omen, of which he gives notice at court, The fame officer is trufted with reaping this field ; the corn of which being put in yellow bags* which is the imperial colour, is refcrved for the raoft folemn ceremonies, and faerifices, of the enfuing year, which the emperor offers to Tien, Chang-ti, and his anceftors. V". Letter. Edif. T. 19* p. 386 — 392* Mem. de Trev. 1730. p. 232. feq.
Among the Spaniards, Agriculture is much neglected. Thefe people truft wholly for their country operations to foreigners > crowds of whom come ufually from the neighbouring pro- vinces of France, &c. to till their ground. What is more, the inhabitants of the two Caftiles, we are told, depend on the poor peafants of the mountains of Gallicia, for the reaping their corn ; which latter, when their own crop of rye proves tolerable, never trouble themfelves about the Caftilians, who, in this cafe, muft want bread ; which they chufe rather to do, than gather their crop themfelves. Vayrac, Etat. Pref. de l'Efpagne, T. 1. Jour, des Scav. T. 64. p. 393. feq. The Egyptians confide fo much in the goodnefs of their foil, that they are fcarce at any pains to till it. As foon as the water of the Nile is returned into its bed, the peafants fow their ground. All they have more to do, is only to mix fand with the mud which the Nile has left, in cafe this has fattened the foil too much ; and they fail not of a plentiful crop. Mem. de Miff. T. 2. p. 13.
In England, Agriculture, though much improved in fome parts, may, in general, be faid to be far from perfection. Whatever hufbandmen are apt to conceive of their abilities, moft of them believing they have brought it to the higheft pitch in their refpective countries, and howfoever froward in enter- raining any thing new, yet 'tis certain, were they really fo knowing as they pretend, or would admit of fuch notices as might be communicated to them, we fhoukl have no fuch complaints of uncertain crops, fmuts, mildews, and the like. But fo unfkilful is the hufbandman, fo ignorant in appro- priating the grain to the foil, that he knows not fo much as the grains for thofe purpofes, though near neighbours to him j much lefs are the grains of one country known to an- other. — Of which divers inftances might be given in wheat, barley, &c. Vid. Plot, in Bought. Colletf. T. 4. N°. 3. P- 33- %
It is to be wondered at, that Agriculture has never been a regular ftudy, like other arts and fciences, but left wholly for improvement to empirical practice. Several complaints of this kind have been made by antient as well as modern writers; and, as a remedy, the inftitution of fchools, col- leges, &c. of Agriculture^ has been propofed, but hitherto without much effect : though fome attempts of this kind have been made at London, Rome, Cambridge, Edinburgh, &c. Columella, and after him Mr. Cowley, lament, that while all arts and fciences have their public fchools and ma- tters, we mould never fee or hear of any man who took upon him to profefs teaching this fo pleafant, fo virtuous, fo ho- nourable, fo neceffary art. Mr. Cowley wifhed, that one college in each univerfity were erected, and appropriated to this ftudy, as there are to phyfic and civil law. There would be no need of making a body of fcholars and fellows, with certain endowments, as in other colleges ; it would fufnee, if, after the manner of halls in Oxford, there were only four profeffors conftituted, to teach the four parts. 1. Aration, and all things relating thereto. 2. Pafturage. 3. Gar- dens, orchards, vineyards, woods. 4. All parts of rural oeconomy ; including the government of bees, fwine, poul- try, decoys, ponds ; together with the fports of the field, and the domeftic confervation and ufes of all that is brought in by induftry from abroad. The bufinefs of thefe profeffors mould not be, as is commonly prac-tifed in other arts, only to read pompous and fuperficial lectures on Virgil's Georgic's, Pliny, Varro, or Columella, but to inftruct their pupils in the whole method and courfe of this ftudy j which might, perhaps, be gone through, with diligence, in a year or two.
Agriculture, 'tis certain, might be brought to much greater perfection in England, if farmers had opportunities and judgment to make experiments, or had fome fixed place, where they might fee examples of all kinds of hufbandry, as a fchool, for their information.
1 he Royal Society, foon after its inftitution, appointed a committee for Agriculture, to confider of the hiftory and im- provement thereof ; who began their work with drawing up certain heads of enquiry, to be distributed among perfons ex- perienced in hufbandry, over the three kingdoms, in order to procure a faithful and authentic information of the know- ledge and praaice already obtained therein, with regard to fods, gram, feed, wheat, grafs, and the difeafes and annoy- ances thereof. V. Phil. Tranf. N°. 5. p. 91, 94.
2
A fociety has alfo been eftablifhed at Edinburgh, for the im- provement of Agriculture, who have publifhed a treatife on the fubject, with great applaufc. Vid. Treatife concerning the beft Manner of fallowing Ground, raifing Grafs Seed, and training of Lint and Hemp, for the Ufe, &c. of the Linnen Manufacture, Edinb. 172c, 8vo. V. Pref. Stat. Rep. Lett. T. 2. p. 317.
I he authors on Agriculture are numerous. Befides thofe already cited, we find among the Greeks, Hefiod L ", Philo Juda;us f , Thcmifthis s, and others, publifhed under the titles of Geoponics, Georgics, &c. See Geoponics, &c. Among the Latins, Celfus h , Hygtnus ', Cato, Columella, and others, publifhed under the title of De Re Rujlica — [ c V. E e?a xa-i ^igon, Opera & Dies. Fabric, loc. cit. I. 2, c. 8. §. 5. Baiii. jugem. des Scav, T. 3. P. I. p. 285. IJfgi Twcyw Nw=, de Agricul. Nose ad Gen. c. ix. v. 20. Fabric. Bibl. Gnec. T. 3. 1. 4, 4. §. 2. p. 107. 8 ©so-t; « ytuey-ftwy Utrum Agricult. danda fit Opera ; five Agricuk. Laus. . Fabric, ubi fupra, T. 8. 1. 5. c. 18. §. 3. h Cclf. dc Agricult. libri quinque ; & Fabric, lib. cit. 1. 6. c. g.
- Fabric. Bibl. Lat T. 1. 1. 2. c. 1. p. 360.]
The antient Roman writers contain many things not hitherto common among us, and many others that have never been tried in our fields and gardens. Thus grafting in the root, which is found the readielt way of propagating any plant ; and the moft certain fpecics of that operation was but lately introduced by Dr. Agricola, from thofe authors : and it is to be prefumed, many other things mentioned by them, it put in practice, would be found of no lefs ufe. Their farms are excellently defigned, and there are beauties in their gardens, which we have not among us. Bradley has g-iven us the fubftance of the antient Roman writers on Agriculture ; and, to accommodate them to our own times and country, has reduced their calendar to ours* and fhewn the difference be- tween the feafons of Italy and England : fo that it will not be difficult to put their precepts in practice. Among the Englifh, befides thofe mentioned in the Cyclo- pedia, we have alfo the writings of Mr. Tull, and of Mr. Ellis, a practical farmer. Many particulars alfo relating to this art, are occasionally delivered by the writers on natural hiftory, oeconomy, trade, &c. See Plot, Houghton, the Philosophical Tranliictions, &c. AGRIFOLIUM, in botany, the holly-tree. See Aqui-
FOLIUM.
AGRIGINTINE fait, In natural hiftory, a kind of eatable fait, famous among the antients for its not cracking in the fire, as common fait does. It might probably owe this qua- lity to the finenefs of the powder, in form of which it was generally ufed. But Pliny has added greatly to the miracle, by telling us, that though it did not crackle and leap in the fire, it did when thrown into water. Solinus has added even to this, by telling us, that it would readily melt in the fire. This cannot be a property of common fait, and therefore the author muft have miftaken the ac- count of Pliny, or of fome other writer, from whom he col- lected what he has faid about it.
AGRIMONOIDES, in botany, the name of a genus of plants, the characters of which are thefe. The flower is of the ro- faceous kind, confuting of feveral petals, arranged in a cir- cular form, and growing out of the divifions of the cup. This flower and its cup are alfo received into another cup, of a funnel-like fhape, and fimbriated at the edges. The proper cup of the flower finally becomes a fruit of an oval form, pointed and enveloped by the outer cup, and ufually containing only one feed.
There is but one known fpecies of this plant, which is the Agrimonoides, or Agri?nonia fimilh, the baftard agrimony of authors. Tourn. Inft. p. 301. This plant is called by fome pimpinclla folio Agrimonies.
AGRIMONY, Agrimonia, in botany, the name of a genus of plants, the characters of which are thefe. The flower is of the rofaceous kind, confifting of feveral petals, which are arranged in a circular form, and ftand upon a cup, which finally becomes an oblong echinated fruit, containing one or two oblong feeds.
The fpecies of Agrimony, enumerated by Mr. Tournefort, are thefe. 1. The common wild Agrimony, 2. The fweet fcented^nwoHy. 3. Sweet fcented French Agrimony. Tourn. Inft. p. 301.
The firft fpecies of this genus is frequent in dry paftures, and flowers in June. The dried leaves make a very pleafant infufion, in the manner of tea ; and are efteemed a very great medicine in obftructions of the liver and fpleen. It is celebrated in the jaundice, and in cachectic cafes ; and Is given in coughs and catarrhs, and iu fuppreffions alfo of the menfes.
It ufed to be a very common ingredient in the baths of the antients, prepared with the decoctions of detergent and emol- lient herbs.
Agrimony is otherwifc called Eupatorium veterum, or Gra- corum, or I. B.
From Mr. Geoffrey's analyfis of Agrimony, it appears that this plant contains very little fait of the ammoniacal kind,
fince
