JOURNEY THROUGH JERSEY 43 



I had the pleasure of meeting two members of the 

 Congress, agreeable and worthy men, and congratu- 

 lated myself especially upon taking dinner in the com- 

 pany of General Lincoln. I found in him a man of 

 great intelligence and open-mindedness, although, since 

 the surrender of Charleston, his military talents seem 

 less brilliant to the more unreasonable among his 

 countrymen. He possesses a considerable landed prop- 

 erty in New England whither he returns to tranquillity 

 and the brewing of excellent beer, now that he has 

 resigned his place as War Secretary, which office he 

 administered with approbation.* 



Wheat in America suffers almost every year from 

 the mildew. It is remarked that usually the disease 

 attacks the wheat between the ist and the loth of July. 

 On that ground General Lincoln proposed a method of 

 prevention. Granted that at the season mentioned 

 wheat is at a stage of growth the most favorable to the 

 origin and spread of the mildew, it follows plausibly 

 that the disease might be kept off if the wheat could 

 be more quickly carried through that stage of its 

 growth, (when it is nearly mature), or on the other 

 hand if the period of maturity could be retarded. In 

 the middle and southern colonies this method could be 

 put into effect by procuring seed-wheat from the more 

 northern provinces, where the characteristic of the seed 

 is to make wheat of an earlier maturity, the several 

 stages of growth being rapidly passed through ; and 

 consequently, sown in a warmer climate there would 

 be formed a stronger grain, to defy the mildew at a 



* He has lately assumed command again of the New Eng- 

 land troops against the rebels of that country, and has made 

 an end of the disorders. 



