26 



telligent farmers, never to put in two white crops 

 in immediaie fuccellion. " White crops" are what 

 in New-England we mean by the words " Englifli 

 grain ;" as wheat, barley, rye, oats. All thefe, in 

 England, are called corn, though wheat feems more 

 eminently to be fo defignated. Our firft American 

 anceflors, ufed to this application of the word corn, 

 and finding here, among the Indians, a new farina- 

 ceous (meal-producing) grain which could be ground 

 and made into bread, like the Englijh corns, called it, 

 by way of diflindiion, Indian corn. 

 . The very extended modern improvements in the 

 agriculture of Great Britain have been efFeded prin- 

 cipally by the adoption of the beft practices of dif- 

 ferent diftri(^s, in others where they were before 

 unknown. Thefe have been communicated by in- 

 telligent gentlemen, who vifited the principal parts of 

 the kingdom, for the purpofe of acquiring a know- 

 ledge of their various hufbandry ; and efpecially by 

 the correfpondents of the Board of Agriculture, from 

 all or nearly all the counties, giving the ftate of agri- 

 culture in each. Their numerous agricultural focie- 

 ties have alfo materially contributed to produce the 

 fam.e beneficial effects. Similar advantages may be 

 hoped for, from the like inftitutions in our own 

 country. The utility of ours in EiTex will greatly 



part of the field yielded only 14 and a half bushels to the acre. The other 

 part, besides two crops of clover hay the preceding year, now gave 24 and 

 a half bushels to the acre. This striking fact admits of an easy explana- 

 tion, and in conformity with the principles already advanced. The re- 

 peated ploughings of the fallowed part of the field exposed the clover 

 plants, roots and tops to the sun and air, by ^vhich they were dried up, and 

 nearly annihilated ; while other vegetable food in the soil was also dissipa- 

 ted, or greatly reduced, by evaporation. But the clover, turned under by 

 a single ploughing, was completely covered with earth, kept moist, gradu- 

 ally rotted, and so supphed food to the wheat plants most plentiful!}- 

 when most wanted, that is, in the ensuing season, when the wheat was 

 attaining its complete growth, and ripening the grain. 



