216 Season of 1816. 



Lucky Hit, July 23, 1817. 



Dear Sir, 

 I received, last fall, a publication of your society, re- 

 questing information on the peculiar effects of last sum- 

 mer's climate, and should long ago have replied to it. 

 had I been in possession of curious, or even plausible 

 speculations. With respect to useful or important mat- 

 ters of fact, I cannot say further, than that all vegetation 

 that could be improved in its growth, after the fall rains, 

 was very productive; potatoes, cabbage, and roots of 

 different kinds, yielded plentifully, and supplied the place 

 of corn in a great measure. Your society well recom- 

 mend the cultivation of potatoes, they are an excellent 

 auxiliary to corn, and rarely fail, with decent culture, in 

 tolerable land. You mention some queries on the sub- 

 ject of the grub worm, published by your society. I 

 have seen, in the Intelligencer, six, on wheat, fly, worm, 

 &c. published in May last, by the secretary. I will fol- 

 low them in their order, with the little information I may 

 have. 1st. The stunt is scarcely known on this side of 

 the mountain ; but having learned that it was very pre- 

 valent in Loudon county, I have no doubt you may de- 

 rive much information from thence. With the fly, and 

 its effects, I am very intimate, having lost eighty acres 

 out of one hundred and ten : or rather, thirty acres com- 

 pletely, fifty acres may produce five bushels per acre, and 

 the balance, thirty acres, probably twenty bushels per 

 acre ; in all, about two-fifths of a crop. The last men- 

 tioned thirty acres was of the purple straw, sowed on a 

 corn field, the stalks previously cut and stacked, the 

 ground harrowed down with a heavy harrow, and the 



