244 On Trench Ploughing. 



A. Clover, sown on the grain, early in the spring, 

 or in winter.* Parts of some fields, in eight or ten years, 

 were trenched again ; and the old sod was perceived 

 to be entirely decayed; and become a manure, with 

 no pests. Lime^ put on after the first trenching, was 

 found in the greatest depth the plough turned up. 



In the fall of 1787, 1 trenched (among others) a small 

 field of three and one quarter acres. Cinque-foil^ gar- 

 lic, daisies, twitch, and such vile vegetation, were its 

 cover. A sandy loam, mixed with juica, or isinglass, 

 composed its soil. Its surface, after trenching, look- 

 ed like the earth of iron, or half-burnt brick clay ; 

 though its texture was loose. 



In 1789, in the spring, being then in the legislature, 

 I selected from the members, a company of the best 

 farmers of hancaster and York counties, to dine ; with 

 a view to shew them this forbidding soil, as well as to 

 enjoy their society. They asked me what I intended 

 to sow in it. I told them hemp. Some were silent — 

 conceiving I was amusing myself with their credulity. 

 Others supposed me an enthusiastic theorist, and did 

 not spare me, in their observations. I always join in 

 pleasantry ; though it be excited at my ouii expence. 



The year preceding, I had laid on about sixty 

 bushels of lime, and sixteen cart loads of dung, to the 



*I have seen a publication condemning this practice, 

 which is common among us. I can safely aver, from long 

 experience, that there canngt be a better mode of ensuring 

 a clover crop. I have repeatedly mowed my fields, and 

 had abundant crops. Failures more frequently occur, where 

 clover is sown with spring grain. Timothy, orchard, herd, 

 and such grasses, succeed best, when sown in the autumn. 



