On Com, 49 



sonable price, or to oversee them if procured, 1 have 

 committed my fields to other hands on lease. But were 

 agriculture my line of regular employment, I should 

 take the course I did in 1796, for the greater part of 

 my corn land. 



May I be permitted to suggest the great utility of 

 wood ashes, in raising Indian corn ? What my family 

 do not want for domestic use, I generally apply as ma- 

 nure for Indian corn, by putting a handfull round each 

 hill, after the first hoeing. — (We hoe four times.) I 

 have observed the effects repeatedly, until I am satisfied 

 that upon almost every kind of land one bushel of ashes 

 will produce an additional bushel of Indian com. — I 

 have tried wood ashes and gypsum upon corn in the same 

 field, and the field thought to be friendly to gypsum ; 

 the ashes have been less expensive and quite as pro- 

 ductive. — I once sowed four acres of very poor land, 

 with three bushels of flaxseed. — Upon two acres I 

 strewed eight bushels of ashes. The ground which had 

 the ashes produced 100 pounds of flax more than the 

 other. While on the ground, the eye perceived but a 

 slight difference in the two different parts of the field. 

 But I found the harl much better. This I attributed to 

 the ashes in killing the insects which prey on the roots 

 of flax, after it has attained its size, and before it has 

 procured its coat. Speaking of wood ashes, I will men- 

 tion another experiment. — I turned up an acre of sward, 

 and planted it with Indian corn. I applied after the first 

 hoeing about ten bushels of ashes (which is a profuse 

 and unusual allowance :) but before the field was ashed, 

 my labourers had nearly exhausted the ashes — I direct- 



VOL. II, G 



