occasionally be obliged to use.

The world is continually exclaiming that _experience_ is better than
_theory_. This is very true; for example, he who has had a very long
experience, may, in general, perform operations with tolerable
exactness; but this he undeviatingly does by certain stated means,
without any deeper intelligence of the process. I would, with Mr.
_Chaptal_, compare such a man to a blind person who is acquainted with
the road, and can pass along it with ease, and perhaps even with the
confidence and assurance of a man who sees perfectly well, but is at
the same time incapable of avoiding accidental obstacles, of shortening
his way, or taking the most direct course, and alike incapable of
laying down any rules which he can communicate to others. This is the
state of the artist of mere experience, however long the duration of
his practice may have been, as the simple performer of operations.

Brewing, fermenting, distilling, &c., are branches of commercial
chemistry, that generally challenge the attention and secure the
protection of those governments that constitute them sources of revenue
and trade. Chemistry is as much the basis of the arts and manufactures,
as mathematics is the fundamental principle of mechanics. In the
process of brewing porter, ale, threepenny, &c., to be subsequently
treated of, the practical minutia of fermentation and attenuation shall
be circumstantially laid down in each, so as to account for, and
distinguish the variety of flavour, &c., assignable to each _cause
effected_ by the different modes of treatment.

_Hops, the best method of cultivating and raising them._

A rich, deep soil, rather inclining to moisture, is, on the whole, the
best adapted for the cultivation of hops; but it is observable that any
soil (stiff clay only excepted) will suit the growing of hops when
properly prepared; and in many parts of Great Britain they use the
bog-land, which is fit for little else. The ground on which hops are to
be planted should be made rich with that kind of manure best suited to
the soil, and rendered fine and mellow by being ploughed deep, and
harrowed several times. The hills should be at the distance of six or
eight feet apart from each other, according to the richness of the
ground. On lands that are rich, the vines will run the most; the hills
must therefore be the further apart.

At the first opening of the spring, when the frosts are over, and
vegetation b