286 PLASTER OF PARIS. 



the hoe will be twenty dollars per acre, at the usual 

 price of labor. This mode of culture completely sub-- 

 dues the natural wild grasses, and gives a compact and 

 rich surface of vegetable mould, which will give an 

 abundant crop of the best English hay for four or five 

 years, without the aid of more manure. If the sod is 

 disturbed and attempted to be pulverized in the course 

 of the cultivation, the surface, when laid to grass, will 

 be loose and spongy ; an extra top dressing of loam and 

 manure will be required, and, after all, the surface will 

 not become so compact, nor the produce by any means 

 so great. Should meadows be found too soft and miry 

 to admit of their being ploughed in the summer or 

 autumn, and the expense of turning with the hoe 

 should be thought too great, I would advise ploughing 

 in the spring, when the frost is out to the depth of 

 three or four inches, carting on the manure,' and then 

 sowing or planting at a convenient and proper season. 

 The art of reclaiming these low meadows consists in 

 taking off all the surplus water by judicious draining, 

 and in thoroughly exterminating the natural herbage 

 and grasses. This being effected, we have our rich 

 bottoms, equally as productiv^e as the deep alluvials of 

 the west, and obtained at a cost and sacrifice infinitely 

 less." 



Lexington, January 30, 1839. 



PLASTER OF PARIS. 



We have often promised to give to the public our 

 own views of the value and of the operation of plaster 

 on our New England soils, but have never yet had 

 space to devote to the subject. 



Much has been written upon its chemical qualities, 

 as well as upon the surprising effects of it when applied 

 to certain soils. We propose to take notice, in the first 



