176 PLASTERING MAIZE AND POTATOES 



and other circumstances, will affect its value as a 

 nutritive fodder, and will, in different districts, modify 

 the way in which it can be most usefully or most 

 profitably employed. 



Much has been said at different times about the 

 introduction- of Indian corn as a field -culture into 

 England — an object which, I fear, our feeble summer 

 heats, cloudy days, and early frosts, will prevent us 

 from ever extensively attaining ; but as a green food to 

 be cut in its unripe state, and given green or dried for 

 winter, it might be introduced with a chance of profitable 

 success. 



Plaster or gypsum is extensively used in this neigh- 

 bourhood, being almost the only manuring which a large 

 portion of the land receives. It is obtained abundantly 

 among the beds of the Onondaga salt-group, and is 

 applied in the unburned state. It is crushed in mills, 

 where it is sold in the state of powder at 3d. a bushel, 

 or a dollar and a half a ton of 25 bushels. 



The maize is plastered either once broadcast, at the 

 rate of 3 bushels an acre, or twice with the hand, upon 

 each hill after each hoeing, at the rate of 1 bushel an 

 acre. I saw four rows in the fine field of Indian corn 

 I walked through which had not been plastered, while 

 all the rest had — once only at the rate of a bushel an 

 acre ; and the difference in favour of the plastered part 

 was very striking to the eye. Oats are also much 

 benefited by plaster, especially in a dry season like this ; 

 and it brings away clover, and makes it very tall. It 

 is likewise believed to improve the potatoes which are 

 planted without manure. I caused a number of plants 

 of the potatoes to which gypsum had and had not been 

 applied to be dug up, and certainly the number and 

 size of the potatoes found at the roots, as well as the 

 height of the stems, were greatly in favour of the plas- 

 tered part. It was applied before hoeing, and then 



