Note 20 — Chapter I · MY BOYHOOD, AND ENTRANCE INTO THE NAVY.

I may mention three points contained in this work, to the discovery of which claim has been laid by modern writers, viz. the malting of grain for the purpose of feeding cattle, the converting of peat moss into good soil, and the benefit of a judicious use of salt refuse as a manure; the latter suggestion being made by my father in a treatise published in 1785, nearly seventy-five years ago. Other discoveries might be enumerated, but from those adduced it will be seen that most of my father’s experiments were far in advance of the age in which he lived. With slight modifications only not a few rank as modern discoveries, though little more than plagiarisms without acknowledgment.