Mr. Boamcwoon, the publisher of the celebrated Magazine that bears
his name, has commenced a Quarterly Journal of *limi- Mr. Boamcwoon, the publisher of the celebrated Magazine that bears his name, has commenced a Quarterly Journal of *limi- t/me, of which the second Number has appeared. It is distin-
guished by the application of science to practice, and by the prefer- ence of experiment to theoretical reasoning however acute. In all matters in which the innumerable and imperfectly known properties of natural bodies are to be taken into consideration, theory, which requires that every one of those properties should be ascertained and estimated, necessarily runs great risk of omitting something. hence has arisen the prejudice of agriculturists against theory : it is only a person of great practical knowledge who is entitled to theorize, and very few who are qualified to speak of facts are capable of connecting them together. Thus men are divided into halves, whereas in other cases it requires two halves to make a whole.
The Quarterly Journal of Agriculture is adopted by that most praiseworthy institution the Highland Society of Scotland ; and is to contain the prize essays winch are honoured by its approba- tion. The number before us (the 2nd) comprises, in addition to the original contributions of the agriculturists and naturalists of Scotland, several Essays and Transactions of this Society ; and we suppose that, in future, the Quarterly Journal is to be considered its organ.
It would be difficult to record or even point out the many curi- • ous and useful points of information which are brought to light in the two numbers already published. We have been particularly struck with the papers on "crossing" in the first number, and the experiments for regulating the number of each sex in breeding in a flock, which seems to demand further trial. The facts are un- doubtedly very curious, and may throw a light on the obscure subject of generation. The remarks on the state of husbandry on the Continent, by Mr. Boswell, are full of interest. His testimony is decidedly depreciatory of the skill and industry of Continental farmers. He exclaims, " In all my wanderings, I may truly say that I have never seen a plough ! A clumsy thing, made of a few pieces of bent wood, fastened together with one or two hobnails, is used for tilling ; and although this implement varies in form in different countries, it is everywhere equally remote from the plough of this country, constructed in the manner in which science points out to be best. With such a tool as I have described, to stir the soil, it is almost superfluous to say that the work performed more resembles the pastime of a herd boy, or pigs hunting for truffles, than the work of a Norfolk or Scotch ploughman." The spade is in fact the tool of the Continental farmer ; and in the use of it he is excelled by no English horticulturist. On the very in- teresting subject of the supposed law of vegetable life, which limits the duration of plants obtained by cuttings to the natural term of life of the stock whence they are taken, Dr. Fleming has made some remarks tending to discredit the existence of such law. It is a law which is said equally to apply to Teliacetian noses and golden pippins : but, however little reason there may be to appre- hend that the nasal works of Mr. Carpue will decay " when the ditto of nook is out," there are facts so strong for the existence of the law in vegetables, that we do not feel our belief shaiten by the few observations which Dr. Fleming has hastily thrown together.
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