Chap. II. BY M. DE CHATEAU-VIEUX. sir 



•' The other fields were infinitely worfe treated.* Every thing was 

 deflroyed for fcveral acres together. The plants were rooted up 

 by the ftrength of the froft, and lay fcattered upon the ground all 

 along the rows, withered and unable to recover the leaft vigour. 

 Thefe are the only fields laid out in beds, in which I have feen this 

 extraordinary accident : not a plant was rooted up any where elfe. It 

 is very difficult not to fufpeft that there muft have been foiiie fault 

 in the fowing, and that the fower did not perhaps bury the feed deep, 

 enough. The roots which were too near the furface of the earth, 

 were nipped by the froft. They mull: have been fo, fuppofing them 

 to be but about two inches deep. We likewife know with certain- 

 ty, that if the feed had been fowed in good time, the plants would 

 have had roots above fix inches long; and that fuch roots would have 

 fecured them from being killed by the froft. There is room there- 

 fore to believe that the feed was not buried deep enough. 



" But even fuppofing the plants not to have been deftroyed, I doubt 

 whether they would have yielded a good crop ; becaufe the ground, 

 efpecially that of the partitions between the rovv^s, was extremely 

 hard and clofe, and therefore quite unfit to fupply the plants with 

 the nourifliment they would have wanted. 



"This experiment required thefe remarks: many more might be 

 added ; but thefe are fufficient to fliew that fome lands require a 

 double portion of care and labour. 



EXPERIMENT, No. XII. 



" 'T~*'HE account of the ninth experiment in 1753, (p. 172.) pro- 

 -*■ mifed better fuccefs the next year. The whole culture was 

 performed by the fame perfon, with great care and extraordinary judg- 

 ment on two fields, containing about ten acres. One of thefe fields 

 is much better than the other : the beds were about fix feet wide : one 

 half of the field, the foil of which was inferior to that of the other, 

 was dunged; but not above a third part as much as it would have 

 - been in the common way. The foil of this field is very ftiif. It 

 J> ■ E e 2 had 



* All thefe obfervations, fays M. du Duhamel, fhew that this land is of the nature 

 of thofe which fwell greatly in hard frofts, and,- fubfiding again upon a thaw, leave 

 the roots of plants quite bare upon their furface. In whatever manner they are cul- 

 tivated, they feldom produce any thing if the winter is fevere. The befl way is to 

 fow them with fpring corn. 



