mildew in wheat, I shall describe it, with the hope that it may in some degree lead to the prevention of that disease.

When myground is worked for an autumnal crop of pease, the mould is thrown on each side, so as to form a shallow trench, where the future row is to stand. Into this trench as much water is poured as the ground will readily absorb; and in the water, thus used, I have often dissolved a small portion of common salt with beneficial effects; and if any green weeds, or other succulent vegetable substance, capable of retaining moisture within the ground, can readily be obtained, it is pressed closely into the bottom of the trench, which is then filled, and the surface mould thoroughly soaked with water. The seeds are then sown on the surface of the ground, and the mould is thrown from each side over them; which mode of planting possesses considerable advantages at all seasons of the year. For the roots probably descend as deep into the ground as they do when the seeds are sown in the usual way, whilst the lateral roots spreading nearly horizontal, approach the surface of the ground at the base of the ridge, and there absorb moisture from the dews or slightest showers; it is, however, necessary to water the rows, if the weather be very hot and dry. Those varieties of the pea which root deep, and grow high, succeed best.

The preceding mode of culture cannot be applied to wheat; but nevertheless it may possibly tend to point out some improvement in the culture of that plant in soils subject to mildew. Refuse common salt might be tried to a considerable extent, at a small expense, and there cannot be a doubt that the legislature would facilitate the application of it by a modification of the present laws, should it be found productive of any beneficial effect. Clover leys have in this country generally afforded crops of wheat least injured by mildew; and therefore it appears probable that buck-wheat, or tares, or other green vegetable substances, ploughed in a short time before the wheat is sown on fallows, may promote the health of the succeeding crop. There appears also good reason to believe that much advantage might be derived from the formation or selection of early varieties of wheat, which, by ripening early, would escape

the ill effects of the heavy dews of autumn, and in part the drought of summer.

In the culture of my own farm, I always plough deep, and sow thin and early; and I have uniformly escaped every disease except smut; and my own experience and observation have perfectly satisfied me, that that disease is transferred from the parent plant, and is to be avoided by proper choice and management of the seed corn. My farm, however, possesses the advantages of moderate elevation, where the dews are less heavy, and the variations of temperature less; the soil is strong, and considerably retentive of moisture, and on such soils wheat is least subject to disease. To the conversion of such soils to pasture, and of lighter soils to tillage, I fear we must attribute the prevalence of disease, the frequent failure of crops, and the consequent enormous importation of corn: and so many causes operate in conjunction, as bounties on pasture, and as taxes on tillage, and operate still more on the passions and prejudices of the farmer, than on his interest, that an increased conversion of our best wheat ground to pasture must be the certain and inevitable consequence; but the consideration of these points belongs to the legislator, rather than to the naturalist.

I am, my dear Sir, &c.

T. A. KNIGHT.

SUBSTANCE OF A SPEECH

ON THE SUBJECT OF

UNION,

DELIVERED IN THE

IRISH HOUSE OF COMMONS,

ON THE 24th OF JANUARY, 1799.

AND NOW REDUCED TO THE FORM OF

AN ADDRESS

TO THE

PEOPLE OF IRELAND.

BY THE HON.

SIR WILLIAM CUSACK SMITH, BART.

THIRD BARON OF THE EXCHEQUER IN IRELAND, L.L.D. FR.S.

AND M.R.I.A.

Duo genera semper fuerunt eorum qui versari in Republicâ studuerunt ; quibus ex generibus alteri se populares, alteri optimates et haberi et esse voluerunt. Qui ea quæ faciebant, quæque dicebant, multitudini jucunda esse volebant, populares: qui autem ita se gerebant, ut sua consilia optimo cuique probarent, optimates habebantur.

CICERO PRO Sextio.

PRINTED FROM THE SEVENTH CORRECTED EDITION.

LONDON.

ADVERTISEMENT.

SEVERAL persons, of whose judgment I think highly, (though in the present instance they may not seem to have exercised it successfully,) having expressed a desire, that those arguments, which I lately used in Parliament, should appear in print, I am induced, by their request, to offer them to the public.

On the subject of Parliamentary Competence, I expect that I shall not be thought to have gone into an excessive length of discussion; when it is recollected, that there is scarcely a lawyer, who has opposed an Union, without also disputing the authority of Parliament to enact one: that in several publications which have appeared upon the subject, their authority has been explicitly and confidently denied; and that this question of competence is highly important, and even preliminary: since it would be a waste of time to discuss the advantages of a measure, which the legislature was not competent to conclude.

Having in the following pages enlarged upon some topics, which, when speaking in the House of Commons, I felt it my duty to treat concisely; having supplied, from my notes, or memory, arguments, which from similar motives, or from inadvertence, I there omitted; and having given admission to some new reasonings, which occurred to me as I wrote; I have thought it advisable to throw the whole into the shape of an ADDRESS TO THE PEOPLE OF IRELAND; of which, however, what I said in Parliament will, by those who heard me, be recognized as forming the substance and foundation.

1