367 



The smallaess of the quantity necessa- 

 ry is very strange : two bushels will suf- 

 fice for an acre, in drills ; as I did not find 

 any perceivable difference where I had ap- 

 plied more : nor has plaster been found of 

 any use but where the land was by nature 

 rich or dunged, as it is not possible that 

 there can be any food for plants in that sort 

 of stone. There is a very material dif- 

 ference in the appearance and feeling of 

 French plaster and that of Nova Scotia : 

 the form.er feels like sand in your fingers, 

 and is of a yellow colour ; the latter sort is 

 softer and whiter. The American fiirmers 

 like the soft and white, when in the stone. 

 Many of them buy it by w^elght in the 

 stone, supposing it richer— more oily they 

 say : but I never found any of them able 

 to give a reason for its efficacy; and 

 the farmers will frequently tell, that, in 

 the same field of clover, plaster did great 

 service one year, and none the year fol- 

 lowing. The cause seems evident. It 

 was always in the first year, I observed, — 



