Jl Discourse on Agriculture. xxvii 



ty my views of southern farming, had I not deemed it a duty 

 to comply with their request, so far as I could. 



I am requested to develop <l the causes that have contribu- 

 ted to the improvement of the agriculture of the United 

 States, and to furnish hints for its further advancement.'' 



I feel myself as much at a loss to give any tolerable degree 

 of satisfactian on this point, in detail, as I was on the subject 

 of its progress. I do not correctly know the various stages 

 of its advancement, and therefore, cannot specify its degrees 

 of improvement. That it has improved very extensively, is 

 known to every body. Its causes have been, in no small 

 measure, the extraordinary demands for our products, when 

 the conflicts of foreign nations required them, and our neutral 

 situation rendered their transportation safe. Our farmers re- 

 doubled their diligence, and their gains stimulated their in- 

 dustry, and rewarded their exertions. 



I know of no auxiliary to the improvement of our old set- 

 tlements, so prominent, as the general adoption of the plaster 

 and clover husbandmj. This great source of fertility origina- 

 ted in this state, at first by individual exertion. But our so- 

 ciety, at an early period, had great merit in spreading through 

 the country a knowledge of the properties and effects of the 

 gypsum, and in impressing its advantages. These became so 

 palpably visible, that the most incredulous were convinced. 

 Its effects were objects of the senses, and inquiries into the 

 principles of operation were left to theorists, who do not, to 

 this day, agree on the subject of them. I mention this, not 

 only as one of the most efficient causes of agricultural im- 

 provement, but to show that farmers are only to be convinced 

 by practical proofs. And beyond any other means of en- 

 lightening the blind and confuting the cavilling and obstinate, 

 a Pattern Farm, long proposed by us, would be the best. 

 It is also the only school for educating those who are willing 

 to receive instruction. 



The pyritous earth of Jerseij, improperly called marl is 

 doing wonders in that state. Most probably, it will be found 

 in many parts of our seaboard countries, once covered by 

 the ocean. It promises to be the rival of the plaster, if it 



