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122 TRACTS ON VARIOUS SUBJECTS, &c. 



I would endeavour to give it two or three ploughings and as many 

 harrowings, so as to pulverise the soil perfectly before I put a 

 crop in it. I would then, just before the setting in of the rains 

 (in January or June) open furrows, nearly level, and at the dis- 

 tance of two feet asunder ; and drop potatoes in them, at one 

 foot apart in the rows. These, T would cover with the plough ; 

 and by such means I should secure myself a good crop from this 

 fresh land ; a crop which I am convinced would nearly repay all 

 my expenses ; if I could sell it at the island price, which is eight 

 times what I got for potatoes in England. But as I might not be 

 able to do this, I would take care to have a good breed of pigs to 

 consume the surplus produce at the farm ; I would give them and 

 my sheep and cows a part ; and by keeping all those and my cattle, 

 in what we call a farm yard, (and of which I have seen nothing 

 of the kind in this island) I would soon have plenty of manurcj 

 or muck ; from which I should derive great profit by its meliorat- 

 ing effects on the lands when I am to prepare them for wheat ; 

 or as they begin to fall off in the powers of vegetation. My pigs 

 would soon increase in number and size ; and for which I should 

 never be at a loss for a ready sale ; which is a vast advantage to 

 a farmer : and whilst taking two successive crops of potatoes from 

 the garden, and the new land, I would prepare another new field 

 of the same size as the first, and treat it in the manner I have 

 described ; and so on, till I had all the best land in cultivation. 



fertile ; and the mode of breaking them up, in all improved districts, is by paring and 

 burning. All the old objections to which having been proved futile and groundless, 

 where subsequent good culture is persevered in ; namely — working the eradication of 

 weeds, pulverising the soil, and giving these lands a fair portion of manure." 



The good effects of paring and burning have been frequently manifested here, by a 

 comparison of crops, that have had the benefit of turf ashes, with those where no ashes 

 were spread. The superiority of the former is so great, that few would believe it, if they 

 had not seen it. 



