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Answers to Queries on the Subject of Plaister of Paris, 

 as a Manure ; by Richard Peters^ of Block ley Town- 

 ships Philadelphia County, 



Query 1. How long have you used the plaister of 

 Paris, as a manure ? 



A7iswer, About twenty-five years. I was among the 

 first who began the use of it in Pennsylvania. 



Query 2. In what condition was your land when 

 you began to apply it ? 



Answer. Worn out by long and bad culture ; full of 

 weeds and other noxious plants ; some annual, others 

 perennial. 



Query 3. What quantity per acre have you general- 

 ly used ? 



Answer, From four to six bushels, at one strewirpg, 

 I have formerly thought the proper quantity per acre ; 

 but lately I have not commonly exceeded three bushels. 

 I have had as much effect from two bushels, as from 

 any greater quantity per acre, when season and other 

 favourable circumstances combined. It is difficult to fix 

 the requisite quantity, as effect much depends on acci- 

 dents of weather, &c. which cannot be calculated with 

 any certainty. There appears to be a certain point in 

 the operation of plaister, which is not gained by addi- 

 tional quantity, so much as by a combination with ex- 

 traneous circumstances, difficult to trace or account for. 

 When this point of saturation is arrived at, I ques- 



