Chap. II. BY M. DE CHATEAU^VIEUX. 261 



'* dition of the foil ; but it will always be of great fervice to fix cer- 

 " tain bounds, within which every one may chufe what fuits him 

 «' beft. 



" You will fee by the account of my little experiments, that i 

 " have fowed in the ground of my rows, nearly what would have 

 " been fowed by hand in the fame fpace. But the imperfedion of 

 " my drill-plough, and the condition of my land, obliged me fo to 

 *' do ; and I have not hitherto found any inconvenience from it. 



*' I fliorten my reflexions, and proceed to my experiments. 



Produce of the frjl and fecond crop of a field cultivated in the 



new way. 



*' This field contains, according to Our meafure, fix pofes. Each 

 " pofe contains 400 fquare perches, and each perch nine feet : fo 

 *' that the whole extent of this field is 5400 perches, of fix feet 

 " to the perch. 



"The foil is tolerably good; rather light than ftrong; fitter for 

 *' rye than for wheat. I am the firft that ever ventured to fow it 

 " with wheat. Dung ufed to have a great efi"e(5l upon it for the 

 " firfl crop ; but the fecond feldom fucceeded : in fliort, it was the 

 " general opinion, that nothing could be made of this field without 

 " the help of a great deal of good manure. 



" It was well dunged in 1749, and fowed with Maflin corn. 

 " The year 1750 was very favourable to corn in general, and parti- 

 " cularly to that of this field. It yielded as much as two middling 

 *' crops ; that is to fiiy, ten for one : but being fowed again the 

 ** fame year, it yielded in 175 1, only two and a half for one. The 

 ** year 1752 was the year of reft, or rather it was plowed that year, 

 " according to the old method, and fown in the broad-caft way, but 

 '* without dung. The autumn was not kindly : the plants rofe 

 " poorly J and the crop of 1753 yielded fcarce three for one, after 

 " deducing the tythe. It was after this crop that this field was laid 

 " out in beds of fix feet wide, and fowed the fame year with wheat. 

 "As the mould of thefe beds could not be prepared properly, and 

 " the year 1754 was but a poor one for wheat, I was not furprifed 

 " at the fcantinefs of the crop. I fov/ed 12 of our meafures, and 

 *' reaped 72. Our meafure of wheat weighs, when it is good, 28 

 *' pounds; and that of Maflin, 26 pounds. I did not weigh mijie 

 "^ every year ; but I am fure it was always full weight. 



" Encouraged, rather, than diflieaftened, by this trial, I plowed 



" thefe 



(( 



