201 



expect more than one bushel per acre* 

 from one of the others he expected about 

 five bushels per acre. The third was chiefly 

 rye : he said the soil was poor, and it would 

 not bring wheat, 



I here had a very good opportunity to 

 see the Hessian fly, there being at that time 

 hundreds of acres infected with that insect. 

 This fly is said to destroy all the wheat in 

 several parts of America ; but I believe the 

 poverty of the soil and the nature of the 

 climate to be the greatest misfortunes. A 

 great deal is said about the Americans not 

 manuring their land. To be sure that is a 

 cause of its poverty ; but it is one which 

 cannot be remedied. I suppose there is 

 land in that country that has been sown 

 v/ith wheat every fourth year since it was 

 cleared from timber, and never had any 

 dung put upon it. There are no dunghills 

 lying wasting, as in many parts of Eng- 

 land ; consequently the farmer must not 

 bear the blame : the dung must have been 

 applied to some part of the farm, and I ap- 

 prehend the gardens to have had a greater 



