232 INDIANA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS 



Mr. Boiling resides mostly in Petersburg, and the farm 

 is under the superintendence of Mr. Nichol/ a very intel- 

 ligent Scotchman; yet, it is plain to see, that the owner, 

 unlike many others, is the master spirit that guides all. 

 Having heard of the vast improvements that he had made 

 upon this old worn-out place, which came into his pos- 

 session a few years ago, I called upon him at Petersburg, 

 and expressed a desire to see it ; when he readily offered 

 to go down with me, so that I had the pleasure and advan- 

 tage of his company while there. When he came in pos- 

 session, in 1835, the yield of wheat, per acre, was three 

 and a half bushels; though he thinks a fair yield, if the 

 season had been good, might have been nearly double 

 that. The average, for several years, has been from 15 

 to 18 bushels, and upon some lots of one to three hundred 

 acres, he has averaged 24 to 37 bushels. If it had not 

 been for the frost, in April, it would probably have aver- 

 aged, this year, over 20 bushels upon the whole thou- 

 sand. This has been brought about principally by lime. 

 The first dressing, he gave fifty bushels to the acre; the 

 second one, thirty five bushels; and the third one, the 

 same; in all, 120 bushels. The present cost of slacked 

 lime, at his wharf, is six and a half cents a bushel. Some 

 of his cost more. The former average yield of corn was 

 ten to fifteen ; now thirty five bushels to the acre. His 

 crop of corn, last year, was 18,000 bushels, 12,000 of 

 which sold at 45 cents on board the vessel at home. The 

 remainder, as large as the pile may seem to some of our 

 New-England farmers, was needed for consumption upon 

 the place. Mr. B.'s wheat crop of last year was 14,000 

 bushels, which sold on board at 85 cents. The highest 

 price, any year, $1.30. Average price, $1 ; average price 

 of corn, 55 cents; highest price, 90 cents. Besides lime, 

 he uses plaster, bones, manure, and dry straw, as fertiliz- 

 ers, and thus produces most abundant crops of clover; 

 and so, not only keeps up the fertility of the soil, but, by 



^ A. Nicol moved to Sandy Point with his wife and children about 

 1827. Southern Cultivator, 6:105 (July, 1848). Contributor to 

 American Agriculturist and Partners' Register. 



