Chap. II. BY M. DE CHATE AU-VIEUX. 209 



the accidents that befel them, which might be greater or lefs, in 

 fome than in others; or, in fliort, many other caufes capable of 

 helping or hurting the crop: for otherwife, fuppofing all thele things 

 to be equal, or nearly fo, the difference in the crops could not have 

 been great. 



" Not to impiite the bad fuccefs of this laft experiment too lightly 

 to the new hufbandry, we ought, in juftice, to examine whether it 

 might not be owing to fome other caufe, and whether there may 

 not be room to hope for better fuccefs another time. 



" Thefe fields without being all exadfly of the fame quality, are 

 generally reputed in the country cold and ft iff' lands and very apt to 

 grow hard. Such lands will certainly require more time, more pa- 

 tience and more perfeverance, to bring them to any degree of tilth : 

 more plowings will be neceffary, and thofe plowings muft be given 

 in the moll proper feafons. By continuing to ftir them well, their 

 hardnefs and reiiftance will be overcome, their pores will be opened 

 and multiplied, and plants will then thrive in them as well as in the 

 beft of foils. 



" All lands ought to be treated according to their refpedlive qua- 

 lities. There is great reafon to believe that this field, when prepared 

 as thofe of the experiments No. VIII. IX and X. were, will here- 

 after produce great plenty of corn. What I now fay, is not mere 

 fuppofition or furmife. Repeated experiments, the efi^efts of which 

 have conflantly been the fame, have taught me, and I can fafely 

 affirm, that extremely bad lands, which could not fo much as yield 

 a crop that would pay the expence of tilling them, have been ren- 

 dered good and fertile merely by plowing, and without the al- 

 fiftance of any manure. 



♦* This is a ftriking truth. It was what firfl determined me to 

 praftife the new husbandry ; and therefore it was of confequence to 

 me to be certain of it. To this end, I refolved to make a trial on 

 a fmall fpot of ground, which I knew to be incapable of producing 

 any thing. 



•' Some years before, I had dug away the earth three feet deep, 

 from a fpace of 60 fquare toifes: nothing remained in it but a clofe 

 white clay, fit for potters ufe. This fpot, thus circumftanced, feem- 

 ed to me a proper one for my experiment. As the fpace was too. 

 fmall for the plough to work in, I made ufe of the fpade and hoe. 

 It was made into beds, which were afterwards fowed with wheat, 

 and the fpaces between them frequently ftirred. The firfl: year, my 



E e plants 



