334
the merit of having formed them,) and in a great variety ofpublications in our own and in other languages ; but this mass isan indigesta moles , it must be resolved into distinct parts, andarranged under proper heads, before it can be of much use topractical farmers. Till this is done, till what is certainly knownis distinguished from what is doubtfully conjectured, I profess Ido not expect much information from experimental farms, norsee the possibility of conducting them with intelligence.
“ There are many problems respecting the cultivation of land,which do not admit a solution, because the success or the failureof the experiments, which should be made in order to solve theproblem, depend more upon the nature of the weather, whichcannot be foreseen, than upon the quality of the soil or mode ofmanagement. Thus from one experiment, it may appear thatdrilling wheat is the most profitable mode of culture; from ano-ther, that dibbling it is preferable; and from a third, that sowingit broad-cast is the best, according as the season happens to be hotor cold, wet or dry.
“ But I perceive that I am entering into a long discussion, andraising objections instead of removing them: the conclusion is,that, though I do not expect much advantage from your plan, Iwill take a share in it. As to the great men in the city supportingit, if you do but exhibit the shadow of a guinea to be caughtan hundred years hence, they will engage in the pursuit of it;but the old proberb, Ne sutor ultra crepidam, should teach themnot to range beyond the field of Change-Alley.
“ I am, &c.
“ R. Landaff.”