Chap, II. BY M. DE CHATEAU-VIEUX, 239 



SECT. V. 



Continuation of M. 'D'B Chateau-vieuxV Exferiments in 



1755 and 1756. 



" T\/r^ lands were cultivated in 1755, in the fame manner as they 

 ^*- had been the years before. I fhall therefore not enter into any 

 detail upon that fubjed:. When I fowed my fields, they were very 

 well prepared to receive the feed j the fpring was pretty kindly ; 

 and towards the end of autumn aiy corn was very fine, excepting 

 fome fpots that were attacked vith the rujl fo early as the tenth of 

 November : other places in whicii the plants were ftrong and healthy, 

 promifed a moft plentiful crop ; and though it was greatly diminifh- 

 ed by the winter's frofts, it proved, upon the whole, fufficient to 

 confirm the advantages of the new hufbandry, which have been al- 

 ready proved in my former accounts. 



" The winter of the year 1754, was a moft fevere one. The 

 froft, which was excefiively intenfe, lafted a long time, and killed 

 a prodigious number of plants : thofe that refifted it, loft fome of 

 the branches they had fliot out in the autumn before, and the plants 

 fo weakened, branched but little in the fpring. The evil would 

 have been infinitely greater, if the ground had chanced to be full 

 of water, when thofe extreme hard frofts came on : but luckily it 

 was not very wet. 



" This winter was followed by a very dry fpring, uncommonly 

 hot, and confequently unfit to recover the corn. The fummer, in 

 which there was fcarce any rain or dew, but very frequently fultry 

 fcorching heats, exhaufted the plants in feveral fields. I was not 

 furprifed at it. The feafbns were extremely unfavourable to all 

 prbdudtions of the earth ; and, to add to the misfortune, a vaft 

 quantity of worms did likewife confiderable damage to the corn. 



** However, my wheat rofe ; the ftraw was pretty near as long 

 as in the preceding years, and the ears were well filled with grain. 

 The plowings had been well performed, which kept the earth in a 

 ftate of moifture; lefs indeed than in 1754, becaufe but very little 

 dew fell in 1755. 



" The wheat cultivated in the old way, yielded but few fheaves : 

 rfie ftraw was fliort ; the ears were full of grain ; and, in general, 

 the quality of the corn was excellent. 



" There was room to expeft good fuccefs from the lands that 



were 



