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produce grass ; and of so light a nature, as to 

 keep continually crumbling down. 



Those swamps or bottoms which the A- 

 mericans term rich, are light and crumbly. 

 Lands of this kind are said to be so fertile, 

 as not to bear wheat when first cleared; this, 

 however, is not owing to their richness, but 

 to a sort of vegetable manure, composed of 

 leaves of trees, small sticks, rotten wood, 

 &c., with which they are covered, and 

 which is too light and loose for wheat, as 

 wheat delights in a stiff soil. This land is 

 very fine for Indian corn, which thrives 

 best in a, soil that freely admits the sun to 

 its roots. The manner of raising it shews 

 that it is impossible to plough too much, 

 or keep the soil too light. I am of opi- 

 nion, that, if the earth were moved every 

 day, the crop would be the better for it. 

 Instead of this sort of land being firm, as 

 in England, it is here like chaff, and light 

 under foot. If timothy be sown in it, and 

 the water run so as to leave any sort of 

 weight upon it, it will succeed ; but 

 I 12 



