E 299 ] 



Philadelphia J July V2th^ 1810. 

 Read August 14th, 1810. 



Sir, 



I conceive it a duty I owe the society, to commu- 

 nicate through you, the result of some experiments 

 which I had set about, for the purpose of ascertaining 

 the best means of reclaiming ©Id worn out land. I had 

 fondly listened to the method proposed by some, of im- 

 proving, with clover and plaister, without the use of 

 lime ; and determined to try it. The field which' I 

 pitched upon for my experiments contains about four- 

 teen acres ; it had been cleared about fifty-three or four 

 years ago, and continued in constant cultivation for 

 upwards of thirty years, without manure of any kind. 

 Some old people now living, say that they have seen 

 as 'good crops of wheat cut from it, as ever they saw ; 

 but it was kept in cultivation till the produce would no 

 longer pay for the labour, and has been thrown out a 

 common for more than twenty years, 'till I fenced it in. 

 I had the whole of the field ploughed early in the spring 

 of 1808, in the month of May one part of it was plough- 

 ed again, and sown with buckwheat ; this buckwheat 

 was ploughed in when in blossom, and the land sown 

 with buckwheat a second time, which was likewise 

 ploughed in and sowed with rye. 



The other part of the field was limed, at the rate of 

 25 bushels to the acre, and planted with corn. The lime 

 which I used was of the hot kind, from a quarry which 

 is generally approved of for land in those parts ; makes 



