348 THE BEE, OR March 2, 



and timothy; when the oats were a few inches high, I few- 

 cd a drip through the middle of the field with plaftcr ; the 

 ground being poor, the oats were not knee high at harvefl ; 

 the clover where the plafter was not fown, was very fmall 

 and poor ; but the ftrip on which the plafter was fown, pro- 

 duced clover near as high as the oats. As foon as the oats 

 were cut, I fowed all the ftubble with plafter •, in Otlober, 

 the ground produced upwards of a ton and an half /"^r acre ^ 

 and I now think, the crop fuperior to the beft acre you ever 

 faw *. 



" The land I fowed three years ago, I mow twice, and 

 pafture the bad crop j not the leaft failure yet appears ; I 

 intend to renew a part of it, by way of experiment, with 

 three bufhels of plafter per acre, after my firft mowing, 

 ■which will be in eight days. 



" It is generally efteemed to continue good from f.ve to 

 fevcn years ^ it is much ufed in this country, and is travel- 

 ling weftward and eafftward. I faw laft week feveral fields 

 done with it near Reading, in this ftate, about fixty miles 

 from the river. A fpoonful on a hill. of Indian corn, will 

 increafe the quantity about ten buQiels per acre, and it is 

 found to ripen two weeks earlier. The grafs as well as 

 hay raifed from it, is found more nutritive than any other j 

 fo much fo, that cattle fatten in near half the time. Were 

 I to write a volume, I could not tell you all its advan- 

 tages f. 



" The foil of the plantation of the above w inter is warm, 

 being a loam, more or lefs mixed with fand, having a few 

 inches of black mould on the furface, and not a cold clay. 



'' The plafter, generally made ufe of in the United States 

 of America, is imported from Havre de Grace, and fome 

 from Halifax, in Nova Scotia, but of a much inferior qua- 

 lity, unlefs got in depth, and not near the furface of the 

 earth. The plafter is found in Yorkfhire, and in fome other 

 parts of the kingdom, but whether equal in quality to that 

 in France, experiments will difcover." ' 



Annals of ylgi-iculture, 



* No notice is here taken of the flrip in the middle, that appears t© 

 liave been twice covered vith gypfiini. Edit, 



•}• This account has much the air of exaggeration^ Edit, 



