188 Answers to the Queries of the State Jig. Society of S. C. Vol. XI. 



scientific knowledge in reply, to which few 

 can pretend. 



To the queries, regarding matters of fact, 

 there will be no difficulty in making a reply, 

 though it must be borne in mind, that in a 

 State, presenting so vast an agricultural 

 surface as Pennsylvania, much diversity of 

 practice as well as theory, must prevail. 



Dry statistical details, which can be ob- 

 tained from published documents, it will not 

 be advisable to refer to, except for occasional 

 illustration : for if I rightly appreciate the 

 tenor of several of the questions, the informa- 

 tion required can be afforded by a practical 

 man of observation and experience. 



It is only in this connection that my lo- 

 cality or identity can interest the parties 

 who require the information; but the dis- 

 tance to Philadelphia being only twelve 

 miles, it will, of course, be understood that 

 my observations more especially refer to 

 Eastern Pennsylvania. 



There are some vestiges yet remaining, 

 to prove that this was a favourite agricultu- 

 ral region of the native Indians; and I have 

 seen clearings in the extensive woodlands of 

 the Moravians, fifty miles north of Philadel 

 phia, which were known to have been Indian 

 corn-fields. That these tribes did not raise 

 sufficient for their sustenance, is proved by 

 the thousands of tons of oyster shells on the 

 inlets of Chesapeake Bay, and the perfectly 

 straight Indian path leading from this re^ 

 gion to that; which is yet distinctly per- 

 ceptible in the remnant of primeval forest 

 on the route. When this region was first 

 settled by the Swedes and Dutch, they 

 chose, for obvious reasons, locations on or 

 near navigable waters. But when William 

 Penn parcelled out the country among his 

 followers, many of the original colonists 

 were from Wales, and the hilly districts of 

 the West and North of England. They 

 were rather accustomed to pasturage, than 

 a strictly agricultural people ; and in conse 

 quence they settled on hilly ground, well 

 watered by springs, passing over the primi 

 tive limestone valley, which is now the gar 

 den of the country, because it was heavily 

 timbered and not so well watered. Most of 

 these settlers were Friends or Quakers, and 

 notwithstanding the abolition of the laws of 

 primogeniture, many of the descendants of 

 these old families yet remain in possession 

 of the estates bequeathed from an antiquity 

 remote for the United States. 



It is to this people we are chiefly indebted 

 for the hereditary reputation and superior 

 quality of the Philadelphia butter, the flavor 

 of which is also due to the very ancient pas^ 

 tures, well set with green grass and white 

 clover — Poa Pralensis and Trifolium Re 



pens — Poa Pralensis or smooth stalked mea- 

 dow grass, is identical with the famous Ken- 

 tucky blue grass; the writer having had seed 

 ent him from Kentucky, and verified this 

 fact, which was before discovered by Dr. 

 Darlington, of Westchester. Many other 

 species contribute to the luxuriance of these 

 old green fields; especially the sweet vernal 

 grass, — Anthoxanthum Odoratum, — which 

 is highly aromatic, and according to respect- 

 able authority, is itself the primary cause of 

 the excellence of the butter. Land in per- 

 manent grass, from the cheapness with which 

 it can be kept up, requiring only at long in- 

 tervals a top-dressing of lime and plaster, 

 may be considered as in a condition more 

 profitable, than under any description of til- 

 lage performed by hired labour. The more 

 ancient the sod of grass, the better is it rel- 

 ished by the cattle, and the more productive 

 is it in milk and butter; resembling, in this 

 respect, the pastures of Devonshire, where 

 fields which have been but twenty-five years 

 in grass, are not considered equal to those 

 which have remained unbroken for fifty or 

 one hundred years. It is but fair to state, 

 that though the writer, under certain limita- 

 tions of distance from market, considers the 

 views laid down as undoubtedly correct, yet 

 many intelligent agriculturists, justly appre- 

 ciating the value of the crop of Indian corn, 

 are in the habit of breaking up their old 

 grass fields in rotation, and planting them 

 with corn. The approved method is, to fol- 

 low this crop with oats the ensuing spring — 

 then to manure heavily, plough three times, 

 and sow with wheat and grass seed in the 

 fall, followed by red clover seed in tlie 

 spring. The course of rotation varies, ac- 

 cording to the division of farm land, from 

 five to eight, or even ten years. 



Indian Corn. — The average crop of In- 

 dian corn in well improved and naturally 

 fertile soils, may be set down at 50 bushels 

 per acre, and if stimulated by the applica- 

 tion of lime, plaster, ashes, or manure to the 

 hill, 75 busliels per acre may occasionally be 

 obtained. Taking this whole region, how- 

 ever, 30 bushels per acre may be considered 

 nearer the true average, under the actual 

 system now pursued. Much diversity pre- 

 vails also in regard to the particular descrip- 

 tion of Indian corn — Zea Mays — which is 

 cultivated, varying in fact from the small 

 yellow Flint corn of Canada, which ripens 

 in three months, to the large dog-tooth 

 Southern corn, which in this latitude will 

 scarcely ripen in six months. The writer 

 has experimented upon corn from Tennes- 

 see, South Carolina, Maryland, Canada, 

 China, the Baden corn, and other varieties, 

 without a " local habitation or a name." 



