RUfA BAG A CULTURE 



waste in Long Island, within three hours drive of the all-consuming 

 and incessantly increasing city of New York ! 



97. I have now spoken of the preparation of the land for the 

 reception of seeds. As to the preparation in the case of trans 

 plantation , it might be just the same as for the sowing on ridges. 

 But here might, in this case, be one more previous ploughing, 

 always taking care to plough in dry weather, which is an observa 

 tion I ought to have made before. 



98. But, why should not the plants, in this case, succeed some 

 other good crop, as mentioned before ? I sowed some early peas 

 (brought from England) on the 2nd of June. I harvested them, 

 quite ripe and hard, on the 3ist of July ; and I had very fine Ruta 

 Baga, some weighing six pounds each, after the peas. How little 

 is known of the powers of this soil and climate ! My potatoes 

 were of the kidney sort, which, as every one knows, is not an early 

 sort. They were planted on the 2nd of June ; and they were 

 succeeded by a most abundant crop of Ruta Baga. And, the 

 manure for the peas and potatoes served for the Ruta Baga also. 

 In surveying my crops and feeling grateful to the kind earth and 

 the glorious sun that produce these, to me, most delightful objects, 

 how often have I turned, with an aching heart, towards the ill- 

 treated Englishmen, shut up in dungeons by remorseless tyrants, 

 while not a word had been uttered in their defence by, and while 

 they were receiving not one cheering visit, or comforting word from 

 SIR FRANCIS BURDETT, who had been the great immediate cause 

 of their incarceration ! 



99. As to the quantity and sort of manure to be used in general, 

 it may be the same as for a sowing of rye, or of wheat. I should 

 prefer ashes : but, my large crops in England were on yard-dung, 

 first thrown into a heap, and afterwards turned once or twice, in the 

 usual manner as practised in England. At Hyde Park I had 

 nothing but rakings up about the yard, barn, &c., as described 

 before. What I should do, and what I shall do this year, is, to 

 make ashes out of dirt, or earth, of any sort, not very stony. 

 Nothing is so easy as this, especially in this fine climate. I 

 see people go with their waggons five miles for soaper s ashes : 

 that is to say, spent ashes, which they purchase at the landing 

 place (for they come to the island in vessels) at the rate of about 

 five dollars for forty bushels. Add the expense of land-carriage, 

 and the forty bushels do not cost less than ten dollars. I am of 

 opinion, that, by the burning of earth, as much manure may be 

 got upon land for half a dollar. I made an experiment last 

 summer, which convinces me, that, if the spent ashes be received 

 as a gift at three miles distance of land-carriage, they are not a gift 

 worth accepting. But, this experiment was upon a small scale ; 

 and, therefore, I will not now speak positively on the subject. 



100. I am now preparing to make a perfect trial of these ashes. 

 I have just ploughed up a piece of ground, in which, a few years 

 ago, Indian Corn was planted, and produced, as I am assured, 



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