When the hoard of agriculture made application to parliament for a reward to Mr Elkington, on account of his mode of draining by boring, Dr Anderson address ed several letters to the president of that board. These letters were published ; and, though they were consi dered as rather intemperate in their language, yet it af terwards appeared, that their assertions were well found ed, and that Elkington's plan contained nothing but what had been fully explained by Dr Anderson, more than 20 years before, in his Agricultural Essays. About this time, also, he read an Essay on Moss, before the Royal Society of Edinburgh, which was soon after published ; and in which he first advanced the very singular idea, that moss, contrary to the mode of all other plants, ve getates below, while its upper stratum is undergoing putrefaction by exposure to the air.
About the year 1797, Dr Anderson removed to the vicinity of London, and at the request of his friends, again employed his, pen in a periodical work, entitled, "Recreations in Agriculture." The first number of this work appeared in April 1799, and, except the cor respondence from abroad, with a few contributions from his friends at home, the greater part of it was composed by himself.
From this time he published nothing more, except his correspondence with general WASHINGTON, and a pamphlet on scarcity, but devoted himself almost en tirely to the relaxation a quiet life, and particularly to the cultivation of his garden at Isleworth. In this garden he had constructed a model of his patent hot house, to act by the rays of the sun, without the appli cation of artificial heat ; and amused himself by making experiments, in order to ascertain what degree of heat and moisture was most salutary to different plants. As an instance of his unwearied attention to every depart ment of rural economy, may be mentioned a discovery, which he made about this time, respecting the most el fectual mode of exterminating wasps. Having observ ed, that these insects were very destructive to every species of fruit, in the district where he resided, he re solved to study their natural history. He ascertained, by his inquiries and observations, that the whole hive, like that of bees, was propagated from one female, or queen ; and that the whole race, except a few queens, perished during winter. He naturally concluded, there fore, that, to destroy the queens, in the months of May and June, before they began to drop their eggs, was the surest way of diminishing their number. With this view, he even procured an association to be formed, which circulated hand-bills, with directions, and offered a reward for every queen wasp that should be brought in, within a specified period.
After a gradual decay of his health and corporeal powers, he died on the 15th day of October, 1808, at the age of 69 years. He was twice married ; first, in 1763, to miss Seton of Mounie, by whom he had 13 children; and secondly, in 1801, to a lady in Isleworth, who sur vived him. Of his numerous family, only five sons and a daughter are now alive.
In his younger days, and while engaged in the active pursuits of agriculture, Dr Anderson was remarkably handsome in his person, of a middle stature, and of a ro bust, athletic form. He possessed a very independent mind; and his manners were agreeable and unconstrain ed. In the relative duties of a husband and a father, he displayed the greatest prudence and affection ; and, in the social circle, he was distinguished by his humorous pleasantry, especially when he drew forth the various anecdotes, which his long experience and numerous journies had enabled him to collect. In conversation,
also, he often entered with much spirit and zeal into any favourite subject ; and had the happy talent of rendering his observations at once interesting and intelligible to his hearers.
In testimony of Dr Anderson's abilities, appeal may be made, with the utmost confidence to his various wri tings. There is no agricultural subject, of which he has treated, without throwing upon it new light. Nor was his knowledge confined to this his favourite pursuit; but he has evinced very great powers of research in the de partments of science. Of this, the article Monsoon, which he prepared, in 1773, for the first edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica, affords a striking instance. His style has been censured, as rather inclining to pro lixity ; but it must be acknowledged, that it is uncom monly perspicuous ; and that seldom can any erasure be made without interrupting his train of reasoning. It is also to be kept in view, that the greater part of his works was addressed to men of plain understanding, to whom copious illustration was more necessary, than to men of science. He was among the first who directed the public attention to the improvement of agriculture ; and he had the happiness, before his death, to see this important art, in all its branches, become a se rious object of attention among the most opulent and distinguished characters in Great Britain and Ireland. It is to be hoped, that his exertions for the improve ment of the British fisheries will not be lost ; and that the period is not far distant, when they also shall be rendered an inexhaustible source of national wealth and strength.
The following is a correct list of his works; and those which are out of print, are marked with an aste risk. "A Practical Treatise on Chimneys." "Free Thoughts on the American Contest." "Miscellaneous Observations on Planting, Exc." "Observations on Na tional Industry." "An Inquiry into the Nature of the Corn Laws." "Essays relating to Agriculture," 3 vols. "An Inquiry into the Causes of the Advancement of Agriculture in Europe." "* The interest of Great Britain with respect to her American Colonies." "*A Proposal for establishing the North British Fishe ries." "*An Account of the Present State of the He brides." "Observations on Slavery." "Papers in reference to a Report of the Highland Society on Shetland Wool." "The Bee," 18 vols. "*Observa tions on the Effects of the Coal Duty." on the Privileges and Powers of Juries." "Remarks on the Poor's Laws in Scotland." "A Practical Treatise on Peat Moss." "A General View of the Agriculture of Aberdeenshire." "An Account of the Different Kinds of Sheep in the Russian Dominions, &c." "*On an Uni versal Character." "A Practical Treatise on Draining Bogs." "Recreations in Agriculture," 6 vols. "Cor respondence with "On the Scarcity of Grain in Britain, in 1801." "Description of a Patent Hot-House." "The Antiquity of Woollen Manufactures in England ;" in the Gentleman's Magazine, August, 1773 ; and other papers in that work. Several articles in the first edition of the Encyclopxdia Britannica, among which are Dictionary, Winds, Monsoons, Lan guage, Sound. Numerous Essays in the early part of the Edinburgh Weekly Magazine, under the signatures Agricola, Tinzoleon, Germanicus,Cinzon, Scoto-Britan. E. Aberdeen, H. Plain, Impartial, A Scot. Review of the Subject of Agriculture, for the Monthly Review, for many years. (q)