they want to lay a cow dry); yet that the necefsary effects of the reverse of it should be so little adverted to seems to be not a little surprising. At least we may suppose that this is the case, from observing the little anxiety they discover about the right performance of this very important operation. If a dairy owner were to entrust the charge of half a dozen silver spoons to any servant, it would be judged a criminal degree of inattention not to take a regular notice of them from time to time to see that no imbezzlement had taken place; but here he thinks nothing of intrusting the milking, perhaps, of a hundred cows to a parcel of servants without controul, when by their negligence. he may lose the whole value of his spoons a hundred times over in one season. We shall soon see additional reasons for this kind of attention; but these alone, one would think, ought to be sufficient to excite a very wakeful degree of attention to this particular.

On yet another account ought the owner of a dairy to be extremely cautious in the choice of the milkers. If the operation be harshly performed it becomes painful to the cow, but if gently done it seems rather to give pleasure; and, as the cow possesses the singular faculty of being capable of retaining its milk at pleasure, it greatly behoves the owner to get such milkers only as are gentle and pleasing to the animals themselves. I have known several instances of cows who would not let down a single drop of milk to one dairy maid, who let it flow in abundance whenever another approached her; exhibiting unequivocal marks of satisfaction in the one case, and of sullen obstinacy in the other. For the same reason, when the cows are ticklish, they should be treated with the most soothing

gentleness, and never with harshnefs or severity; and when the udder is hard and painful, it should be fomented tenderly with luke-warm water, and stroaked gently to bring the poor creature, if pofsible, into good humour; for in this case she will let down the milk without restraint, so that the milking will operate upon the future generation of milk after the same manner that the sucking of her calf would have done; whereas if she retains her milk, and does not allow the whole to be drawn off freely, it must operate after the same manner in regard to the future production of milk, as we have showed above that imperfect milking would have done. It is well that in this case, as in many others, interest pleads the cause of humanity. How beautiful are all the laws of nature when they are clearly understood.

But a still more powerful reason for being attentive to see the very important operation of milking properly performed, and the management of cows in other respects more carefully adverted to than has been customary, will appear from the following facts that have been ascertained by me by means of experiment and a careful attention to practice for many years, which, for the sake of being more easily remembered, I have thrown into the form of aphorisms. But, as these facts and the corollaries deducible from them would not do well to be separated, and as, when taken 'together, they would greatly exceed the boundaries appropriated to this head, I shall defer entering upon this branch of the subject till the next number of this work.

OBSERVATIONS ON INSECTIVOROUS INSECTS.

SIR,

For Dr. Anderson's Recreations.

[Continued from page 191.]

I HAVE read with much pleasure and satisfaction your Recreations in Agriculture, Natural History, &c. but more especially that part of them which treats on Entomology, as it flatters me with a hope that it will increase the labourers in a science. little known and lefs cultivated in this country. For want of a proper knowledge of insects, the naturalhistory of Great Britain is in a very imperfect state, and must continue so, until more persons, and in very different situations, engage in the pursuit. One great reason for the neglect of this branch of natural-history is, the want of some proper work in our native language to engage the attention of the tyro, and to furnish him with the means of acquiring the outlines of the science; another circumstance that checks the young inquirer is, the utter impofsibility in most situations of meeting with some proficient to consult, or to whom he could communicate his discoveries; for, excepting the metropolis, or within a few miles of it, scarce an entomologist is to be found, though there are many persons whose observations would be truly valuable if they were preserved and pursued. To these may be added a third and more serious objection, which is, the contempt in which the study of insects is held by many sensible and intelligent persons of both sexes. VOL. III.

S

Your excellent efsays will, I hope, remove the first difficulty, and stimulate the curiosity of those who have leisure and opportunity, to examine and investigate the economy and properties of such minute animals as fall within their notice. It will not only increase their happiness by expanding the mind, but will also remove that tedium which is too often felt in the country when young persons have no interesting pursuit. The second will of course vanish, if we can induce those who have made this branch of knowledge their study, but whose modesty or timidity may have hitherto prevented their making themselves known, to come forward and contribute their mite to the general fund.

The third objection can only be overcome by reason, reflection, and a due and mature consideration of the subject, turning the mind to the all-wise Creator, to whom man, in common with the most minute animalcule, owes his existence. The inquirer into nature will soon perceive the omniscience and omnipresence of the Deity; he will observe that these minute beings are a necefsary and very useful part of animated nature, and that they are preserved and governed by laws immutable, and directed by unerring rules of order and perfection far beyond the reach of human wisdom to comprehend.

Let no presuming impious railer tax
Creative wisdom, as if aught was form'd
In vain, or not for admirable ends.

Shall little, haughty ignorance pronounce
His works unwise; of which the smallest part

Insects hold a more distinguished place in the grand scale of nature than at first appears. They not only furnish man with various articles of luxury and use, but serve also for food to quadrupeds, birds, and fishes.

For animals subsist on animals in infinite descent;

And all so fine adjusted, that the lofs

Of the least species would disturb the whole. THOMSON.

A slight attention to the economy of insects would enable the farmer and gardener frequently to preserve their crops and choicest flowers from destruction, by enabling them to discern the destroyer, and to discriminate between the friend and the foe; it would encourage them to spare, where before they would have been inclined to punish, and to rescue from death many friendly insects that, through ignorance or inattention, would have been condemned to destruction. I am led to these reflections by your essay on the insects which destroy the leaves of the gooseberry tree; and, although with your correspondent Juvenis I commend that paper, and admire your interesting reply to his questions, and the means you propose to rid gardens and fields of slugs and noxious insects, yet permit me to recommend extreme caution ere the fatal verdict of condemnation be passed, that it may not be done hastily or wantonly, but with the greatest care and circumspection; for we certainly have no right, either through wantonnefs or caprice, to deprive of life an harmless and inoffensive animal, created for some wise and beneficent purpose, and holding its proper place in the grand chain of nature. It has often appeared to me of serious consequence, that

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