106 RUTA BACA CVLTURE. Part I. 



five miles for Soper's ashes ; that is to say, spent 

 ashes, which they purchase at the landing place 

 (for they come to the island in vessels) at the fate 

 of about five dollars for forty bushels. Add the 

 expense of land-carriage, and the forty bushels do Ij 

 not cost less than ten dollars. I am of opinion, • 

 that, by the burning of eai^ih, as much manure may 

 be got upon the land for half a dollar. I made 

 an experiment last summer, which convinces me, 

 that, if the spent ashes be received as a gift at three 

 ■i.iiles distance of Innd-carriage, they are not a gift 

 worth accepting of. But, this experiment was upon 

 a small scale ; and, therefore, 1 will not now speak 

 positively on the subject. 



100. I am now preparing to make a perfect trial 

 of these ashes. I have just ploughed up apiece 

 of ground, in which, a few years ago, Indian Corn 

 was planted, and produced, as I am assured, only 

 stalks; and those not more th-dnt-wofeet high. The 

 ground has, every year since, borne a crop of 

 weeds, rough grass, and briers, or brambles. The 

 piece is about t€7i aci-es. I intend to have Indian 

 Corn in it ; and, my manure shall be made on the 

 spot, and consist of nothing but burnt earth. If I 

 have a decent crop of Indian Corn on this land, so 

 manured, it will, I think, puzzle my good neigh- 

 bours to give a good reason for their going Jive 

 miles for spent ashes. 



101. Whether I succeed, or not, I will give an 

 account of my experiment. This I knov\', that 1, 

 in the year 1815, burnt ashes, in one heap, to the 

 amount of about t-wo hundred English cart-loads, 

 each load holding about forty bushels. I should not 

 suppose, that the burning cost me more than five 

 dollars ; and there they were upon the spot, in the 

 very field, where they were used. As to their 

 effect, I used them for transplanted Ruta Bnga and 

 Mangle Wurzle, and they produced full as great an 

 effect as the yard-dung used in the same land. This 



