106 THE COMPLETE FARMER 



that the plants draw weak, have a thin harl, and are the 

 more liable to lodge. Lime, marl, shells, leached ashes, &c. 

 do not produce such effects. Top-dressings, soon after the 

 plants appear, of plaster, ashes, soot, &c., are highly bene- 

 ficia], as they not only encourage the growth, but are a pro- 

 tectioix against worms, which sometimes attack young plants, 

 and may be considered the only enemy they have except 

 weeds. 



' Salt has been mentioned by the late Dr. Elliot, of Con- 

 necticut, as an excellent manure to plough in with flax, at 

 the rate of five bushels to the acre ;'^ probably more would 

 be better. Plaster is now much used in Duchess county, the 

 best cultivated district in New York, as a manure for flax, on 

 which its good effects are as apparent as on corn. 



' The late chancellor Livingston viewed a piece of flax on 

 the 20th of May, 1791, belonging to a poor tenant, very in- 

 judiciously sown on a dry sandy declivity ; it looked so ex- 

 tremely sickly that the tenant thought of ploughing it up ; 

 the chancellor gave him three bushels of plaster, which was 

 sown the next morning before the dew was off, and had the 

 satisfaction of seeing his tenailt gather more flax from his 

 half acre in an uncommon dry season, than was produced 

 from anj^ acre in the neighborhood. 



' The best preparatory crops in this country at present ap- 

 pear to be potatoes, corn, and roots ; they will most generally 

 repay the extra manure, and, if well managed, check the pro- 

 duction of weeds. 



' The following rotations may serve as an outline subject, 

 to be varied, and hemp or other crops introduced, as circum- 

 stances require, viz. : 



No. I. Loio, cold, or reclaimed Soils. 



1st year, Potatoes. 



2d do. Flax, with seeds. 



3d do. Herd's grass and red top, or tall meadow oat 

 grass, to continue three years or more, and the course re- 

 peated. 



No. II. Strong Uplands. 



1st year. Potatoes or corn. 



2d do. Corn or roots. 



3d do. Flax, with seed. 



4th do. Clover. 



* See Elliot's Essays on Field Husbandry. 



