96 AGRICULTURAL REPORT. [March 



is no peculiar impediment, none certainly which is insurmount- 

 able, to its cultivation. It does not ofteuer fail than a crop of 

 rye. With the proper choice of soil, the careful selection and 

 preparation of seed, the due preparation of the land, so as per- 

 fectly to drain it, to reduce it to a fine tilth, to have it well ma- 

 nured for the previous crop, and then deeply turned, without 

 bringing the sub-soil suddenly to the surface ; and by the ad- 

 dition of lime, where hme abounds, to clayey soils, or in a 

 caustic state to land too abundant with crude or acid vegeta- 

 ble matter ; and especially by a liberal application of wood 

 ashes, there can scarcely remain a doubt, that the best of wheat 

 may be raised among us at a fair agricultural profit, and to an 

 extent to supply in a great measure our domestic wants. It is 

 easy to see at a glance, that such a result would prove an 

 immense gain to our comforts, to our pecuniary condition ; and 

 to our political and moral welfare. 



Note. — It will be seen, upon examination, that there are several 

 points in relation to the wheat crop, which, in the foregoing discussion, 

 I have not touched, and others upon which I have remarked cursorily 

 and slightly. The apology for this will be found in the fact, that, at 

 the time of the passage of the law ordering a bounty upon wheat, I 

 submitted by order of the Senate a full report on the cultivation of 

 spring wheat, which was published and widely distributed ; and I have 

 deemed it proper, as far as I could do so, to avoid a repetition of the 

 remarks then given. 



