C82 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



[No. 11 



yet I found that, for want of due care and atten- 

 tion at certain times, the crops were not equal to 

 what they had been under my immediate direc- 

 tion: a circumstance which plainly shews, that a 

 work like this never thrives so well as in the hands 

 of the owner himself. 



"I now resolved to pursue my improvements as 

 before the war, that is to say, to break up larger 

 tracts of ground every year, than had been done 

 of late. Most: of my yet uncultivated lands were, 

 and had been from time immemorial, thick covered 

 with high broom, heath, fern, &c. and experience 

 had taught me that these were not to be broken up 

 with the plough alone. 



"Of all the methods which I tried, none seemed 

 to me, as I said before, so good as the pari ng- mat- 

 tock and burning. I therefore fixed upon this, 

 and, in consequence, sent for the workmen I had 

 formerly employed in trials of this kind: but their 

 number not sufficing iorthe extent of ground which 

 I purposed to break up this year, I sent for others 

 from a distance, and was weak enough to let these 

 last persuade me to contract with them at a set 

 price, for paring the whole surface. I agreed to 

 give them even more than they ought to have had 

 for doing the work ever so well; lor I was not yet 

 thoroughly acquainted with the nature of this bu- 

 siness. They began it in March; and to earn their 

 money the more, easily, or rather to rob me, only 

 skimmed off the mere surface, without hardly 

 touching the roots of the plants, which they should 

 have cut off. When this work was done, as they 

 called it, for the burning part did not belong to 

 them, they immediately came to me, and asked for 

 their money, which I simply gave them, not sus- 

 pecting the cheat, but only thinking they had 

 earned it very soon. When the turf of their cut- 

 ting was dry, 1 ordered it to be laid in heaps, and 

 burnt. The small quantities of ashes which it 

 yielded, made me suspect the roguery: but when I 

 found that the roots in the earth broke some of my 

 ploughs, in cutting only a single furrow to cover 

 the seed, and that there was no clearing it of clods, 

 I was thoroughly convinced that I had been the 

 dupe of these people, and that this paring would 

 be of little service. The wheat sowed in this 

 ground rose indeed pretty well, and looked tolera- 

 bly during part of the winter; but not being able 

 afterwards to strike through the crust formed by 

 the remaining matted roots of the plants, most of 

 it died, and the little that remained scarcely re- 

 turned the seed: nor could this land be recovered 

 till the next year, even by ploughing, breaking the 

 clods, and dunging. 



"The bad success of this experiment, upon 

 which a great deal of money had been thrown 

 away, tried my patience, but did not discourage 

 me. My neighbors began anew to exclaim against 

 my projects, as they called them; and numbers of 

 those people who are determined at all events to 

 oppose novelty, be it right or wrong, were pleased 

 to vent their sarcasm at my expense. I let them 

 talk on. The roguery of the people who had last 

 pared my ground did not hinder me from still 

 thinking that this was the best way of breaking up 

 new land, especially heaths; and the event has 

 chewed that I was right. This check, which was 

 the last T received, made me resolve to take my 

 measures better for the future. 



"The rest of my improvement, yielded very good 

 crops this year, during which 1 continued to mend 



my roads and meadows. These long winded 

 works, for which only a certain space of time, and 

 a certain sum of money, could be allotted every 

 year, have been continued ever since, and indeed 

 are not yet finished. I likewise bought this year 

 several hives of bees; though I had some betbre. 

 These useful creatures have multiplied exceeding- 

 ly; especially in a little garden, where my chief 

 apiary is, situated between meadows and heaths, 

 of the flowers of which they are remarkably fond. 

 Though these industrious insects thrive perfectly 

 all over the country I am speaking of, yet the in- 

 habitants of these parts not only have not a tenth 

 of the number they might keep, but ignorantly fol- 

 low the old barbarous custom of destroying the 

 bees, when they want their honey, instead of only 

 taking part. 



"1 did not agree by the piece for breaking up 

 the land I intended to improve in the year 1750, 

 lest 1 should be again deceived; but hired proper 

 laborers by the day. They began their work in 

 March, and finished it about the middle of June; 

 cutting all the way deep enough to go under the 

 crust, or net-work, formed by the roots beneath the 

 surface; for I took particular care to see that this 

 was done. When the turf thus pared, to the 

 thickness of about four inches, was dried, piled up, 

 and burnt in heaps from space to space upon this 

 ground, it yielded a considerable quantity of ashes, 

 which enriched the soil for a long time. Wheat 

 was then sowed, and the plough easily turned up 

 the furrow which covered the seed. Women and 

 children easily broke the clods of this ground, 

 which was thereby at once brought into good or- 

 der; the roots of all the wild plants having been 

 effectually cut through, and their seedsdestroyed by 

 the fire. My wheat, by this means unincumbered 

 with noxious productions of any kind, flourished 

 well, and yielded an excellent crop; as also did 

 such other parts of my land as were under corn. 

 The success of this year revived my hopes. I 

 now perfected my method of making artificial 

 dung, which, as I have already observed, proved 

 of infinite service; and, for manuring my more dis- 

 tant lands, I built upon them perpetual kilns, which 

 have always supplied me with a sufficient quantity 

 of ashes. 



"This year I began to plant white mulberries, 

 in order to feed silkworms, and make the inhabi- 

 tants acquainted with the management of them. I 

 have since continued to make plantations of this 

 kind every year, and find them answer perfectly 

 well, especially in light soils. Several of them are 

 an usefiil embellishment to proper parts of my im- 

 proved lands, and I have alleys of them, which, 

 though not suffered to run up high, form a very 

 pleasing prospect. 



"In 1751, I again succeeded perfectly well in 

 my new method of paring and burning. All my 

 cultivated lands now yielded very good crops; and 

 that in particular which I had broke up last year, 

 and since dunged properly, ihat is to say, with half 

 the quantity commonly used upon ground in gene- 

 ral, produced more than any other equal space had 

 yet done. From this time I continued to dung all 

 my grounds which were broken up in this manner, 

 every alternate year. 



"My improvements were now become so exten- 

 sive, that I was again obliged to increase the num- 

 ber of my servants, and of my ploughing cattle. 

 The same thing happened more than once after 



