314 i.GMcrLTURAt MrsEtna 



much as possible. As pverv essential good may he peiv. 

 vert.'d to a bad pu.pose> there is no doubt that excess m 

 dung or seed has at times proved hurtlul ; but where one- 

 acre sufters from iretting too niueh of either; a hundred 

 acres suffer from receiving too little. It must be (jbviou* 

 to every attentive observer, that, were the manura 

 labour aad seed, w'lich, in a large proportion of the coun- 

 try, are sti etched over too great a breadth of groir d, 

 confi led to two thirds and, in miiny places, to one hali* 

 of the extent, the fields wou'd be much more productive- 

 than they are; and it is owing to the over frugal manner 

 in which manures of all sorts are generally administered, 

 that so many weak crops, or rather effigies of crops 

 appear, and lands revert so rapidly to their former 

 Hinproductive state. 



A s the disorder which befel the wheat crop oflast seasoa 

 was uncomrflonly str;king and severe, it is no wonder 

 that the feehngs of true patriotism were roused^ and 

 every possible method tried to investigate the cause of 

 the evil, and to find out an antidote againsi, its malignant 

 attacks in future In such cases, however, great cautioQ 

 is a,lways requisite, lest by endeavouring to avoid one 

 evil we fall into a greater. Thin light crops, are with; 

 out doubt, less liable to suTcr by heavy rains and moist 

 cloudy weather than weightier ones ; but would it, oq 

 tills account be advisable to regulate our cultivation by 

 such a standard? Certainly not ; at any rate, so far as 

 my observation went, the thin light crop of last seasoa 

 did not escape more than the heavier ones. The diminu- 

 tive heads on wea,k stalks, as well as the larger ones 

 on stronger stalks, in parts of fields where the crop was 

 thinner, were no better filled then where the crop was 

 close and weighty; a striking instaticc of which occurred 

 in one of my fields of about fourteen acres, where, from 

 Tariety of soils, and different preparations, both descrip- 

 tions were conspicuous. Eleven acres were sown on 

 the 16th and 17th October, after potatoes and drilled 

 beans ; and three acres on the 22d and 23d February 

 fallowing, after turnips. Eight bushels of a particbUat; 



