C 12 ] 



Cooper's Point, April 17th, 1799, 

 Respected Friend, 



Kind providence having placed me in a situation of 

 life, which obliged me to procure a living by industry, 

 and that principally in the agricultural line, it has caus- 

 ed me to be a strict observer of the works of nature, 

 with respect to such parts of the vegetable creation as 

 have come under my particular notice, and have been 

 greatly embarrassed at the opinion very generally en- 

 tertained by farmers and gai'deners, that changing seeds, 

 roots and plants, to distant places, or different soils 

 or climates, is beneficial to agriculture, such opinion, 

 not agreeing with my observations or practice. This 

 induced me to make many experiments on that 

 head, all of which, in more than forty years practice, 

 have operated to prove to my satisfaction, that the above 

 opinion is not well founded, and if so, must be extreme- 

 ly prejudicial to agriculture, as it turns the attention 

 of the husbandman from what appears to me one great 

 object, viz. that of selecting seeds and roots for plant- 

 ing or so^^^ing, from such vegetables as come to the 

 greatest perfection, in the soil which he cultivates. 



What induced me to make experiments on the sub- 

 ject, was, my observing that all kinds of vegetables 

 were continually varying in their growth, quality, pro- 

 duction, and time of maturity. This led me to believe 

 that the great author of natiu'e, has so constructed that 

 wonderful machine, if I may be allowed the expression, 

 as to incline every kind of soil and climate to naturalize 

 all kinds of vegetables, that it will produce at any rate. 



