On Plaister of Paris. 29 



worth ten times ^vhat it was before I plaistered it, the 

 face of the soil appearing to be entirely changed, and 

 is admired by all who have heretofore known it, the 

 plaister having had the effect they have known upon 

 it. This has encouraged me to treat all the field in the 

 same manner, which has been nearly done to the same 

 good effect. 



Query 6. In consequence do you find that it renders 

 the earth sterile after its useful effects are gone ?* 



Answer. I have never yet found it to have any bad 

 effect upon any land that I have put it on, and as I re- 

 peat the use of the plaister as often as I sow with clover, 

 I have not experienced the beneficial effects to be gone; 

 but I find that in pasture land that has lain for four or 

 five years or more, it occasions a stiff sward to plough; 

 put when well ploughed and pulverised, it is as light and 

 mellow as it has been before the plaister was put on : 

 and I am fully of opinion, were farmers to be careful 

 to mow all they possibly can where the plaister is used, 

 the great addition they would thereby gain to their 

 usual proportion of manure would render it almost im- 

 possible ever to have that effect, as mowing is much 



* The bugbear exhaustion has been long found to be a 

 mere phantom. I have not a field which is not the better for 

 repetitions of plaister. It is known that my applications were 

 not only the earliest, but for many years on the most exten- 

 sive scale. I continue to use the gyps freely and in large 

 quantities. 



R. P. 



September J 1810. 



