[ 72} 
Answers to Queries on the Subject of Plaister of Paris, 
as a Manure; by Richard Peters, of Blockley Town- 
ship, ss ddsse County. 
a 
Query 1. How long have you used the plaister “of 
Paris, as a manure ? 
' Answer. About twenty-five years. I was among the 
first who began the use of it in Pennsylvania. 
Query 2. In what condition was your land when 
you began to apply it ? 
Answer. Worn out by long and bad culture ; full of 
weeds and other noxious plants; some annual, others 
perennial. 
Query 3. What quantity per acre have you general-_ 
ly used ? 
Answer. From bie to six bushels, at one strewing, 
I have formerly thought the proper quantity per acre; 
but lately [have not commonly exceeded three bushels. 
Ihave had as much effect from two bushels, as from 
any greater quantity per acre, when season and other 
favourable circumstances combined. It is difficult to fix 
the requisite quantity, as effect much depends on acci- 
dents of weather, &c. which cannot be calculated with 
any certainty. There appears to be a certain point in 
the operation of plaister, which is not gained by addi- 
tional quantity, so much as by a combination with ex- 
traneous circumstances, difficult to trace or account for. 
‘When this point of saturation is arrived at, 1 ques- 
