MARCH. 177 



Seal-hair, rabbits' -dung, and lime, have been tried 

 upon these soils, and found to answer no good 

 purpose. _ 



ALDER. 



If a farmer has an alder-car on his farm, or stubs 

 of them by a river, he should be attentive to cut 

 them when the bark will peel, and immediately 

 soak them two months in a pond. This hardens 

 the wood lo such a degree as to improve it 

 greatly*. It merits experiment, to ascertain whe- 

 ther the effect would not be the same with other 

 aquatic woods. 



PARING AND BURNING. 



This is the first month in which a farmer can 

 execute the burning part of this operation, upon 

 any large scale ; but if the north-east winds pre- 

 vail, which so much excel in the power of evapo- 

 ration, and which often blow through the greater 

 part of this month, it may go on without inter- 

 ruption. The cases in which this management 

 ought to be embraced are so numerous, that a man 

 cannot profit by many situations and circumstances 

 he may be in, without the application of this admi- 

 rable system. 



Before we come to the distinctions of soil, it 

 will be proper to offer some general observations, 

 on the diametrically opposite systems embraced by 

 such numbers of persons, on the general question, 



* Annals, vol. ix. p, 485. 



N whether 



