it would not be excellent policy to bring in this ifland. Among the numerous caufes which have been held out for the high prices of provifions, and the depopulation of the kingdom, the engroing of farms is principally eminent: our pfeudo-politicians had much better talk of engrolling eftates. One evil is imaginary, the other real. I do not apprehend (for various reafons, befides the mere effect upon agriculture) that there can be too many freeholders in the kingdom; but certainly there may be too few. The ranks of men will not be well diftinguished when there are no little eitates. With relation to husbandry, we fee at prefent that the agriculture of immenfe eftates is worie, upon the average, than that upon finall ones. The moors and other tracts of uncultivated land are fo little valued, that they have been fold for low prices. our waftes into cultivation; but the grand difficulty is in doing it. We muft examine their capability of profitable improvement. It is not a trifling evil against which I at prefent fpeak. From the most attentive confideration, and meafuring on maps pretty accurately, I am clear there are, at leaft, 400,000 wafte acres in the fingle county of Northumberland. In thofe of Weftmoreland and Cumberland there are many more. In the North and part of the Weft Riding of Yorkshire, and the contiguous parts of Lancashire, and in the Weft of Durham, there are still greater tracts. You may draw a line from the north point of Derbyshire to the extremity of Northumberland, of 150 miles, which fhall entirely confift of wafte lands, with very trifling exceptions of fmall culti vated fpots.---The East Riding of Yorkfhire, Lincolnshire, and Cambridgeshire, have large tracts; Devonshire, and Cornwall immenfe ones. The greater part of Scotland remains unimproved, To thefe may be added, a long catalogue of forefts, heaths, downs, chaces, and other waltes, fcattered through the other counties, and even within fight of the capital: forming, when combined, a monstrous proportion even of the whole territory. I know not fo melancholy a reflection as the idea of fuch waste and uncultivated lands being fo common in a kingdom that hourly complains of the want of bread. The complaints of the poor, that they cannot get bread to eat, are general and ferious. Our political pamphleteers dwell eternally on the caufes of this fcarcity; they talk of poft-horses, dogs, commons, inclofures, large farms, jobbers, bakers, and rafcals; but all to little purpofc. Their fchemes of improvement are as wild as the cautes to which they attribute the evil. They overlook the plain maxim, that in proportion as you increafe the product of a commodity, in proportion will the price fall. Bring the wafte lands of the kingdom into culture, cover them with turnips, corn, and clover, inftead of ling, whins, and fern, and plenty will immediately be diffufed. If you want to make a commodity cheaper, furely the way is to increase the quantity of thofe that fell, or to ieffen the money of thofe that buy :---the latter we cannot do---but the former is, or ought to be, in our power; and we had better make ufe of it than rail inceffantly against jobbers and regraters. I have mentioned that there are many millions of wafte acres So far fouth as Devonshire, Dorsetfhire, and upon the fea-coaft, interfected by turnpikes, and clofe to populous towns, large tracts have been bought freehold at a guinea an acre, and fome even at ten fhillings. Thefe grounds are purchased, not with a view to cultivate, but to increafe the domain for huntingcountry, for fhooting moor-game, and other Cherokee fports. Another circumftance which occafions our wastes to be left in their prefent ftate, is the general idea of their incapability of cultivation. There cannot be a doubt but that this idea is mistaken and erroneous in a very high degree.---In fome future letter I fhall endeavour to prove it fatisfactorily. I am very clear, that if the legiflature would purchafe all the waftes in Britain that come to market, and immediately refill them in parcels of twenty or thirty acres, the beneficial confequences would be aftonishing.---Would to heaven an act paffed obliged poffeffors to fell wafte lands, if not in culture, after a certain period. But this will not happen, and therefore I fhall beftow no more words upon it. The reafon that men have treated this fcheme as impracticable, originated in the notion that the waftes were to be FARMED; but nothing is more diftant from my idea. To farm them would be a vifionary fcheme indeed, but to improve them is a very different thing. In the next number of your Magazine, fir, I will particularly explain my ideas upon the fubject: We often hear the state of our wastes, and of population, fpoken of with regret. But why fhould fuch converfation, which carries with it an appearance of patriotif, be indulged, if its meaning confifts in the mere language? it is to be deeply N 2 regretted, 92 Volney's Statistical Queries. regretted, that a more active conduct has not long ago produced some effects; but unhappily our waftes are ftill in their defolate condition. Upon cultivation depends (in my opinion, in a very high degree) power, wealth, and national influ-" ence---I hope that fomething will be effected. Some degrees of wildnefs and imprudence had better far be the confequence, than to continue for another century fleeping, and dully fluggardized in that difmal torpor which can never produce ought that is valuable. In a wealthy, refined, and polifhed age, activity ought to be the characteristic of the nation.---Animated endeavours are an honour to any age---Sleep, therefore, no more over your moors, your downs, and forefts; but exert the fame spirit of im provement, oh, ye great! which every other branch of political economy enjoys in fo diftinguished a degree.---This is the hearty with of a man, who remains, dear fir, Your fincere well-wisher, 14. What are the qualities of each wind? are they dry or rainy; warm or cold; violent or moderate? 15. In what month does most rain fall? 16. How many inches fall in a year? 17. Are there any fogs? and at what feafon? 18. Are there any dews? where and when, and at what time are they greateft? 19. Do the showers fall gently, or are they fevere ? 20. Are there any fnows, and how long do they endure? 21. Are there any hail-ftorms, and at what feafon ? 22. What winds bring fnow and hail along with them? 23. Is there any thunder? when, and what wind reigns at that period? 24. In what direction is it usually diffipated? 25. Are there any hurricanes? what wind prevails antecedently? 26. Any earthquakes? at what fea fon? what are the prefages? do they fucceed rains? 27. Are there any tides? what height do they reach? what winds accompany them? 28. Are there any phenomena peculiar to the country? 29. Has the climate experienced any known changes? and what? 30. Has the fea rifen or fallen?, to what extent? and when? ART. III. STATE of the SOIL. 31. Does the country confift of plains or mountains? and what is their elevation above the level of the fea? forefts, or is it naked and uncloathed ? 32. Is the land covered with trees and 33. What are the marshes, lakes, and rivers.? 34. Is it poffible to calculate the num ber of fquare leagues in mountains, marthes, lakes, and rivers? 35. Are there any volcanoes? and are they burning or extinguished? 36. Are there any coal-mines? ART. IV. NATURAL PRODUCTS. 37. What is the quality of the foil? is it argillaceous, calcareous, ftoney, fandy, &c.? filled are thofe nearest the fhore, or in other words, neareft the winds, It would feem then that the fame law ought to prevail in the fea breezes (la bife de mer) but it is other wife, for the former rule takes place there alfo. It would be defirable to know, what particular winds produce thefe different effects. 38. What Volney's Statistical Queries. 38. What are the mines and metals? 39. What are the falts and falt-pits (falines)? 40. What is the difpofition and inclination of the different ftrata found in wells and caverns? 41. What are the most common vegetables, trees, fhrubs, plants, grains, &c.? 42. What are the moft common animals, quadrupeds, birds, fishes, infects, and reptiles? 43. Which of these are peculiar to the Country? 44. What are the weights and fizes of thefe, compared with ours? SECT. II. Political State. ART. I. POPULATION. 45. What is the physical conftitution of the inhabitants of the country? their ufual height? are they fat or lean? 46. What complexion are they of? and what is the colour of their hair? 47. What is their food, and how much do they eat daily? 48. What is their beverage? are they given to intoxication? 49. What are their occupations? are they labourers, or vine-dreffers, or fhepherds, or feamen, or do they inhabit towns? 50 What are their accidental or habitual maladies? 51. What are their characteristic moral qualities? are they lively or dull, witty or phlegmatic? filent or garrulous? 52. What is the total maís of population? 53. What is that of the towns, compared with that of the country? 54. Do the inhabitants of the country live in villages, or are they difperfed in feparate farms? 55. What is the ftate of the roads in fummer and winter? ART. II. AGRICULTURE. N. B. The methods of agriculture being different, according to the different districts, the best way of becoming acquainted with this fubject, is to analyze two or three villages of different kinds; for example, a village in a plain, another on a mountain; one where the vine is cultivated, and another where farming alone is practifed. In each of thefe villages a farm should be completely analyzed. 56. In any given village, what may be the amount of the inhabitants, men, women, old men, and children? 57. What are their respective occupations? 58. What quantity of land is culti vated by the village? 93 59. What are their measures of length and capacity, compared with ours? 60. What is the price of neceffaries, compared with that of labour? 61. Are they labourers, proprietors, or farmers? do they pay in money or kind? 62. How long do their leafes run, and what are the principal claufes in them? 63. How many farms are there, dependent on each village? 64. What is the proportion between the good and bad land? 65. Which are the beft cultivated, large or small farms? 66. Do the farms confift of home or outlying grounds? 67. Are the fields enclosed? and in what manner? 68. Are there any commons? and what do they produce? 69. Is there any right of paffage through private property? tails of a farm, you are to enquire, Having determined respecting the de 70. The number of labourers, the mode in which they are lodged, the quantity of land and animals? 71. What is the rotation of crops? 72. How many years in fucceffion are the lands cultivated, and what fallow are they allowed ? 73. What grains are fown yearly? and what quantity is allowed to an acre? 74. What are the periods for fowing and reaping? 75. What is the difference between the produce and the expences of every year? 76. What is the quantity of land in natural and artificial graffes? 77. What quantity of land is requifite for the feeding a cow, ox, mule, horse, fheep, &c.? How much does each confume in a day? 78. What are the animals ufed in agriculture? how are they harnessed? 79. What are the inftruments of tillage? 80. What is the rent of the farm, compared with its eftimated produce? 81. What is the intereft of money? 82. How are the husbandmen fed? the amount per annum? and the value of the ftock? 83. What is the weight of a fleece, and of the meat under it? 84. What profit is fuppofed to accrue from a fheep? and alfo from an ewe? 85. What kind of manure is ufed? 86. How does the family employ itself in the evenings? and what fpecies of induftry does it practise? 87. What 94 Volney's Statistical Queries. 87. What is the difference obfervable between the manners and the improvement of a village where vines are cultivated, and one that produces corn? between a mountain village, and one feated in a plain ? 88. In what manner is the vine cultivated? 89. What are the different kinds of wines? how are they kept? what the quality? the fpecies of grape? the produce of an acre? the price of any given quantity? 90. What are the trees cultivated? olives, mulberries, elms, chefnut, &c.? What are the particular modes of rearing them? What is the average produce of each and of an acre? 91. What are the other products of the country, either in cotton, indigo, coffee, fugar, tobacco, &c. and the methods ufed in cultivating them? 92. What new and ufeful article can be introduced? ART. III. INDUSTRY. 93. What are the arts most practifed in the country? 94. Which of thefe are the most lu crative ? 95. What is remarkable in each, on the fcore either of economy or effect? 96. What arts and manufactures are moft cultivated? 97. Can any others be introduced? and which? 98. Are there any mines? of what kind? how are they worked, especially thofe of iron? ART. IV. COMMERCE. 99. What are the articles imported and exported? 100. What is the balance of trade? 101. What kind of carriages are used for the tranfit of goods? are there any waggons of what kind are they? how much do they carry? 102. What weight can a horse, mule, afs, or camel carry? 103. What is the rate of carriage? 104. Of what kind is the internal and external navigation? 105. What are the navigable rivers? are there any canals? can any be cut? 106. What is the ftate of the coaft in general? is it high or low? does the fea encroach on, or leave it? 107. What are the ports, havens, and bays? 108. Is the exportation of grain permitted or denied? 109. What is the intereft of money among commercial men? 124. What is the order obferved in respect to fucceffions and inheritances? 125. Is the claim of primogeniture allowed? are there any substitutions and teftaments? 126. Do the children all inherit alike any kind of property whatever? what is the refult in the country? 127. Is there any property in mort. main; any legacies left to the church; any foundations? 128. What authority do the parents exercife over their children? and hufbands over their wives? 129. Are the women very luxurious? in what does their luxury confift? 130. What is the education bestowed on the children? what books do they learn? 131. Are there any printing-offices, newspapers, libraries? 132. Do the citizens affemble for converfation and reading? 133. Is there a great circulation of perfons and commodities in the country? 134. Are there any poft-houfes and post-horses ? 135. What, in fhort, are the establishments, no matter of what kind, peculiar to the country, which merit obfervation on account of their utility? To SIR, Charge of Plagiarism against Mr. Leslie Confidered. To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. B----d, 16th Jan. 1798. AVING confidered the artless charge H of plagiarifin, by Mr. W. A. of Newcastle, against Mr. JOHN LESLIE, and the attempt of defence of Mr. LESLIE by the ingenious Mr. JOHN PLAYFAIR, Profeffor of Mathematics in the College of Edinburgh, I must be of opinion, that the charge has not been removed by Mr. PLAYFAIR: and, I believe, few of your readers will entertain a different opinion on the subject, though it should turn out, perhaps, that the plagiarifm originated not from the celebrated M. EULER, but from Mr. VILANT, Profeffor of Mathematics in the University of St. Andrews'. And Mr. LESLIE's fame would not furely have fuffered any diminution, by a candid and honeft acknowledgement of the fource of his firft lights on the fubject. According to information, at different times, from students at the College of Edinburgh, Mr. PLAYFAIR recommend ed always Mr. VILANT's Analyfis, to his students, when on algebra. Mr. PLAY. FAIR, therefore, cannot be fuppofed to be unacquainted with the 19th propofition and corollaries of the Analyfis, where the very method feized on by Mr. LESLIE, is given and applied to many examples of indeterminate equations, and of commenfurate affected equations of different degrees, &c. Mr. PLAYFAIR may not, perhaps, know that the refolution of indeterminate and affected equations, &c. according to this propofition and corollaries, had always been given very fully from the year 1765, in the fecond mathematical clafs, St. Andrews; as I learned from notes I took in this clafs in the year 1779, when I attended the fame, along with Mr. JOHN LESLIE, whofe attention I called in a particular manner to indeterminate equations, when the fame was entered upon: and which notes I copied from a memorandum book in Mr. VILANT's writing, containing rules and examples for all equations, approximations, logarithms, &c. and dated at the beginning with the year 1765. If, therefore, Mr. LESLIE had pretended only to fome little attempt at improvement in point of form, he would not have exposed himself fo plainly to a charge of plagiarifm: and if Mr. PLAYFAIR'S memory had not failed him fo completely, and if he had not been impofed on by his more artful newly acquired difciple, common candour would not have allowed him to commit himself so far, as to speak of 95 Mr. LESLIE as an inventor. What Mr. PLAYFAIR has ftated about putting M. EULER'S Algebra at first into Mr. LES. LIE's hands, requires fome explanation. Upon Mr. LESLIE'S leaving St. Andrew's, in 1782 or 1783, he carried with him fome examples of indeterminate equations, &c. as there refolved, and thewed the fame to Mr. PLAYFAIR; and it was then, and then only, that Mr. PLAYFAIR first put into his hands the algebra of the celebrated EULER, and the firft copy, probably, of that work imported into Scotland; a point of time this, long prior to that of drawing up the paper in the "Edinburgh Philofophical Transactions," fo justly animadverted on by your correfpondent Mr. W. A. of Newcastle. And though the method in the Analyfis be general for every species of indeterminate equations, &c. and for all equations that may by fubftitutions be brought or reduced to the form prefcribed; as no examples of indeterminate equations inVolving rational fquares, cubes, &c. are there given, this finall treatife being but an abridgement of part of a comprehenfive Syftem of the Elements of Mathematical Analyfis, fome merit, it may be faid, is due to Mr. LESLIE, for giving examples of thofe indeterminate equations; and this would be granted, as here stated, if the celebrated EULER, by preoccuping the ground, had not, as already mentioned, cut off Mr. LESLIE from every pretence to originality, even in this of adding to the examples. But too much, perhaps, has been faid on a fubject, fo eafy and obvious in its principles and application, as can attach but little merit to the difcuffion thereof. And if Mr. PLAYFAIR had not been induced to come forward rather incautiously, and with more appearance of oftentation, &c. than is natural to his character and difpofitions; and, if gratitude to an old master, who, with too much art and too little candour, has been kept entirely out of view by Mr. LESLIE, had not roufed my feelings, &c. your correfpondent Mr. have been left to fubftantiate his charge W. A. of Newcattle, as fully able, would completely on the part of Mr. EULER, any interference, from, without Sir, Your very humble fervant, P. S. It should be obferved, that at St. Andrew's, indeterminate equations were refolved two ways. (1) By converting the |
