the leafes from all the proprietors (one only excepted) and immediately began the work. The plan Mr. Gilbert ftruck out (which I have executed) was to 'have in the main fluice three different pair of flood-gates. The firft are, to keep the sea out, which are called the fea-gates. The fecond pair are erected at about half a mile diftance nearer to the Meer, to ftop the fea there, in cafe any accident fould happen to the first: thefe are termed the ftop-gates, The third pair are built close to, and in the fame walls with the feagates, but open and fhut in a contrary direction to them: these are named the flushing gates. All thefe three flood gates are kept open, to give a free paffage to the waters from the Meer, when the tide has fufficiently retired; and when the tide rifes again above the level of the waters on the Meer, the feagates are fhut. In dry feafons, when a fufficient quantity of water does not come down from the Meer, to keep the out-fall fluice open acrofs the loofe flying fands on the fhore, the tide itfelf is permitted to flow up the fluice to the ftop-gates, which are then fhut, and at high water the flufting-gates are clofed to keep the fea water in. fand, mud, &c. that may have been. brought up by the tide." Thus, by the great skill and fuperior ingenuity of one man (Mr. Gilbert) the great obftacle to the perfect drainage of Martin Meer is done away, which had baffled the many vain efforts of the proprietors for almost a century. By an accurate examination of the out-fall, Mr. Gilbert found it would admit of the fill or threshold of the new gates being laid five inches lower than it formerly had been; and he recommended the fea-gates to be advanced about two hundred yards nearer to the out-fall upon the open marth. To prevent the fea flowing into the fluice behind thefe gates, large and ftrong banks are thrown up on each fide, which are continued to the flop-gates; and at the fame time they antwer another effential purpose, viz. by containing a larger quantity of teawater to flush with. The new fea-gates are eighteen feet wide, and nineteen feet and a half high, and the fill five feet lower than the former: this makes the paffage in rainy fealons, when the water would have run four feet upon the old fill, to bear the proportion of one hundred and fixty-two feet in the present gates, to fifty-fix in the old ones. When we had funk to the proper N. B. All these three feveral gates have four paddles at the bottom, three feet in length, and two feet in depth, which are drawn up by fcrews, to flush away any obftacle that chance to impede their working. At low water the paddles of the fufhing-gates are drawn up, and the retained fea-water rufhes out with fo much violence, that the fluice to low water is in a very fhort time clcanfed from every obftruction, upon it. The walls are tweke Whilft the gates were building, i C I employed all the hands I could procure in deepening and widening the fluice upon a dead level with the fill up to the Meer, fix yards wide at the bottom, allowing a foot and a half flope to every foot in elevation. In fome places the cutting was near twenty feet deep; and at the depth of fixteen feet in fand, I found an entire trunk of a tree which Iquared a foot. In April, 1783, the level was carried up completely to the Meer, which then (owing to the waters having been damned up) was flooded higher than it had been for feveral As foon as the damyears. head was cut, the fuperior efficacy of the new works appeared; and this uncommon flood ran off in five days, which would have required as many weeks to have been difcharged through the old floodgates. After the waters had run off, the fluice was deepened nearly to the fame level through the lowest parts of the Meer. The fluice is nearly five miles in length from the feagates. The ditches were next attended to; and fince the drainage, above a hundred miles in length have been perfected: but as fmall open drains were neceffary to carry off the rainwater into the ditches, I procured a draining or guttering plough, on Mr. Cuthbert Clark's conftruction, which was drawn by eight, fometimes ten able horfes, and which I can with certainty recommend as a moft useful implement in all fenny five at the bottom, more perfect than could have been done in that land by the hand, and which would have coft, if done by hand, seven pounds five fhillings and ten pence. The fummer in 1783 was em ployed wholly as above, in laying the land dry. In the year 1784 fome few acres were ploughed, and yielded a tolerable crop of fpring corn; fome yielded a very inferior kind of hay: the reft was paftured. Early the last year I prepared for oats and barley, and ploughed nearly two hundred large acres. The effects of the drainage appear from the crops; for I have fold barley for eleven pounds feventeen fhillings and fixpence the large acre, the produce of the land which before let at no more than four fhillings the acre; and oats at ten pounds feventeen fhillings and fixpence per acre, off land which would bring no price before; the purchafer to cut, carry off, &c. all at his own expenfe. From the lands which before afforded a very poor pafture in the drieft fummers, I laft year fed feveral head of Scotch cattle, which did better than any that were fattened upon the beft grazing lands in our neighbourhood. The beft meadow lands in the most favourable feafons did not let for more than about nine fhillings per acre. Laft year I mowed many acres, worth three pounds, and let off feveral of interior grafs, at two pounds per acre, referving the after-grafs for my own cattle. We are forry to observe, in a fubfequert Letter of Mr. Ecclefton's to the Society, that his improvements had fuffered from the jailure of the F 3 Douglas Let them be rubbed in a mortar till the quicksilver is thoroughly incórporated with the other ingredients; for the proper mode of doing which, it may be neceffary to take the advice, or even the aflistance, of fome apothecary, or other person, ufed to make fuch mixtures. + The method of using the ointment is thus: beginning at the head of the sheep, and proceeding from between the ears along the back to the end of the tail, the wool is to be divided in a furrow till the skin can be touched; and as the furrow is made, the finger flightly dipped in the ointment, is to be drawn along the bottom of it, where it will leave a blue ftain on the skin and adjoining wool: from this furrow, es the fhoulders and thighs to the legs, as far as they are woolly; and if the animal is much infected, two more fhould be drawn along each fide, parallel to that on the back, and one down each fide between the fore and hind legs. Immediately after being dreffed, it is ufual to turn the sheep among other stock, without any fear of the infection being communicated; and there is fcarce an instance of a sheep fuffering any injury from the application. In a few days the blotches dry up, the itching ceases, and the ani mal is completely cured: it is ge "The thanks of the Society were prefented to Sir Jofeph Banks, Baronet, prefident of the Royal Society, for his attention to the views of its inftitution, by this com munication, refp cting the diforder called the scab in sheep. The Society, during the course of several years, offered premiums for the difcovery of an effectual remedy for this disease, but without effect, though fome claims were made for the reward offered; yet, as the following method has been found fully adequate to the purpose intended, it is hoped due attention will be paid to it in the different parts of the kingdom. Though there does not appear to be any difference between this ointment and the Unguentum Cæruleum of the shops, I have chofen to give the receipt exactly as it was given to me. Some of our graziers begin to use it by rubbing it into the naked part of the thigh and fore leg; a practice much less troublesome, but which requires much more judgement than the above. nerally, nerally, however, thought proper not to delay the operation beyond Michaelmas. The hippobofca ovina, called in Lincolnshire, fheep fagg, an animal well known to all thepherds, which lives among the wool, and is hurtful to the thriving of fheep, both by the pain its bite occafions, and the blood it fucks; is radically deftroyed by this application; and the wool is not at all injured. Our wool buyers purchase the fleeces on which the ftain of the ointment is vifible, rather in preference to others, from an opinion that the ufe of it having preferved the animal from being vexed either with the fcab or faggs, the wool is lefs liable to the defect of joints or knots; a fault obferved to proceed from every fudden ftop in the thriving of the animal, either from want of food, or from difeafe. fhillings a fcore, infuring for that price the fuccefs of the operation; that is, agreeing, in cafe many of the fheep break out afresh, to repeat the operation gratis, even fome months afterwards. I beg to have it underflood, that in communicating this information to the fociety, I do not offer myfelf as a candidate for the medal propofed by them as a reward: having been neither the difcoverer nor the introducer of the remedy, I can lay no claim to it. Refpect to the patriotic views which have ever guided their conduct, and the hope of being ufeful to the breeders of fheep, are the motives which have induced me to lay this paper before them; and an additional one I confefs it to be, that it gives me an op portunity of publicly teftifying the refpect with which, in confequence of your active induftry, in bringing forward ufeful inventions, and checking the pretenfions of defigning impoftors, I can with fincerity profefs myfelf, Your real well-wisher, This mode of curing was brought into that part of Lincolnfhire where my property is fituated, about twelve years ago, by Mr. Stephenfon, of Mareham, and is now fo generally received, that the fcab, which used to be the terror of the farmers, and which frequently de- Soho-Square, April 17, 1788. terred the more careful of them from taking the advantage of palturing their fheep in the fertile and extenfive commons with which that district abounds, is no longer regarded with any apprehenfion: by far the most of them have their flock anointed in autumn, when they return from the common, whether they fhew any fymptoms of fcab, or not; and having done fo, conclude them fate for fome time, from either giving or receiving infection. There are people who employ themfelves in the bufinefs, and contract to anoint our large fheep at five 1 The following Receipt for the Scurvy, fuppofed to be communicated by a Mr. Huckings, of Cambridge, on Account of the great Benefit he himfelf received from it, is extracted from the Gentleman's Magazine, for 1789. "Ti O four beer quarts of good rich fweet-wort, add half a pound of fallafras, one ounce of farfaparilla, and four ounces of daucus feed (commonly called wild carrot): boil them gently over the fire F 4 for for three quarters of an hour, frequently putting the ingredients down with a ladle; then train the fame through a cloth. To each quart of this liquor put one pound and a half of good thick treacle, boil the fame gently for three quarters of an hour, kimming it all the time; put it into a pan, and cover it till cold, then bottle it for use. Be careful not to cork the bottle too tight. Of this fyrup a moderate tea-cup full is to be taken in the morning, and the fame on going to bed. The above did no more than keep the body open. The effect, however, was fuch, that it took off the itching, cleared the fkin, eafed the feet, relieved his drowfinels in the day-time, and brought on comfortable nights, made him active, and, though 60 years old, as full of fpirits as he ever remembered himself. The time of his taking the fyrup was in September, October, and November, 1787, during which time he abstained from high fauces, and in a great measure from animal food. His drink at dinner was tablebeer, and sometimes mild ale. N. B. The wild carrot ought to be gathered in September or October." arable farms do not afford the occu pier fo good a maintenance as dairy farms of the fame annual value. That the latter will do well and fave money, while the former, with a vast deal more labour and trouble, is ftarving himfelf and family. This matter has been fully investigated in a former paper, and the true reafon affigned; but a fure and certain remedy, which would enable the farmer to live and pay his rent punctually, is greatly to be wifhed, and would be of universal convenience. An attempt to effect which is the intended ufe of this paper. The advantage and propriety of applying land to the growth of such articles to which nature has most fitly fuited it, has been fhewn at large, and alfo that all land which is naturally and properly arable, can by no means be converted into meadow, or valuable pasture of any du ration. Such as from a wild state of nature, overrun with furze, fern, bufhes, and brambles, has been rendered fertile by means of the plough, must be kept in that improved ftate by its frequent ufe, otherwife it would foon revert to that wild barren ftate which was its original condition. A farm, therefore, which confifts wholly, or almost fo, of land that is arable; for it is not practicable to properly arable, muft ever continue render it in any degree fertile, but by means of the plough; or to keep it long fo, even when it is made fo. But though arable land cannot be converted into meadow or pafture proper for a dairy, it may be planted with articles which, it is well known now, will anfwer the purpose of feeding horned cattle, especially milch-cows, as effectually as good meadow or pasture, producing as much |