594 [Assembly 



without the aid of manure ; perhaps this crop I am speaking of 

 was as profitable as the Staten Island one was, as it appears there 

 was more than forty-two dollars expended in manure. My crops, 

 I am treating of, are not peculiar to any situation; the system 

 may be adopted with the same success, almost, on any land or 

 place ; they are common, ordinary crops, with th-e exception of 

 seasons. There are many flattering accounts of crops committed 

 to paper with a view of attracting the notice of the reader, when 

 perhaps, if they were closely investigated they might not exceed 

 the ordinary crops of the country. Competition on a broad scale 

 is likely to be attended with some advantage ; each party endea- 

 voring to excel increases the produce, and consequently enriches 

 the grower. 



I have seen a flattering account of a wheat crop in Michigan, 

 that produced sixty bushels per acre, but I doubt it would be diffi- 

 cult to find the person that raised it. There was a person, some 

 years ago, that lived at Silver Lake, in Pennsylvania— the rough- 

 est and most uneven surface I ever saw — that published a pamph- 

 let treating on crops and produce of that country ; among the 

 rest was a corn crop of immense magnitude, surpassing all crops 

 of that kind ; his method of computing was to measure the land 

 that supported the stalks, omitting the intervals between the rows, 

 which would be equal at least to four or five acres, so that the 

 produce of four or five acres was reported as only one. This de- 

 ception was used to induce the settlers to take up his land ; and 

 many a poor fellow, unacquainted with the country, was wretch- 

 edly deceived. It is more than probable that this flattering and 

 deceptive account, at a considerable distance from home, attract- 

 ed the attention of many of its readers : adieu to deception ! As 

 crops depend on the state of cultivation the land is in, not only 

 as to fertility but the certainty of getting them, as crops will grow 

 and produce well on land in a good state of cultivation, when on 

 land that is poor and exhausted they Avill often fail, in the same 

 seasons under the same cultivation ; in very dry seasons the one 

 will produce good crops when the other will fail, as the drought 

 does not affect land that is rich and well pulverized, as it imbibes 

 more moisture from the atmosphere and dew. Some people en- 

 tertain a mistaken notion respecting this theory, and will not hoe 



