C 134 ] 



CHAP. V. 



Transplanting Indian Corn. 



213. I WAS always of opinion, that this would be the 

 best mode, under certain circumstances, of dealing with 

 this crop. The spring, in this part of America, and 

 further to the North, is but short. It is nearly winter 

 'till it is summer. The labours of the year are, at this 

 season, very much crowded. To plant the grains of 

 the Indian Corn over a whole field requires previous 

 ploughing, harrowing, marking, and manuring. The 

 consequence is, that, as there are so many other things 

 to do, something is but too often badly done. 



214. Now, if this work of Corn planting could be 

 postponed to the 2,'jth of June (for this Island) instead 

 of being performed on, or about the 15th of May, how 

 well the ground might be prepared by the 25th of June ! 

 This can be done only by transplanting the plants of 

 the Corn. I was resolved to try this; and so confident 

 was I that it would succeed, that I had made some part 

 of my preparations for six acres. 



215. I sowed the seed at about three inches apart, in 

 beds, on the 20th of May. The plants stood in the beds 

 (about 15 perches of ground) till the Jirst of Juhj. 

 They were now two feet and a half high ; and I was 

 ready to begin pla7iting out. The weather had been 

 dry in the extreme. Not a drop of rain for nearly a 

 month. My land was poor, but clean ; and I ought to 

 have proceeded to do the job at once. My principal 

 man had heard so much in ridicule of the project, that 

 he was constantly begging and praying me not to per- 

 severe. " Every body said it was impossible for the 

 " Corn to live!" However, I began. I ploughed a 

 part of the field into four-feet ridges, and, one evening, 

 set on, thus : I put a good quantity of earth-ashes in the 

 deep furrow between the ridges, then turned back the 



