Alexandria advertiser and commercial intelligencer. [volume] (Alexandria [Va.]) 1800-1803, 1802-06-14
agricultural.
MIR. SNowpEN.

~ ToX f0iVS roe J0II29oWs 7oAl s4"' - 's
gsfalrsjs Of ySnr alreaay glsfAl paper,
I will fsaak yoa 70 iablb il.
MUCH has been iaid ABOUT platter OF
Paris as manure. Some have aicribed
60 il powers LITTLE Ieis than magical, while
Others wiilnot allow that it has any pow
ers al All. / have now lad lome expert
encs Off, aud from the wonderful effects
proauced by it, am induced thus publicly
20 give my teitimony in its favor.
In June, 1880, ltaIlowed an old field,
which was g completely worn out, that
she fence had been taken from about It,
more than leven years before, ! flowed It
with wheat the lat week In September.
The wheat, before towing, was ioaked IN
clean water about hours, and then halt
a bulhel of ground platter MKT with each
bulllel of feed. 1t was town IN this itate,
ploughed in very hallow, and the ground
narrowed afterwards till 1t was quite
fnoo,h. In the month of March follow
ing, flowed one bulhel of platter. mixed
with two quarts of clover ieec, on each
acre; and from rs bulhels of wheat TOWN
I received sc bdhckof good grain.
The field has beeniownagain with plat
Ter this fpring, and there is now cropof
clover ready 10 nov, which will at leait
compeniate for allsthe labor and expence
incurred, both with it and the wheat
crop.
4 have made other experiments, which
have been equally fucceisiul, and iuihcl
emf toconvince, me that the pooreis, worn
OFT; land, with platter Of Paris alone, may
be reclaimed, unleis the foil is entirely
.waihed off, which, indeed, is the cafe
wirh great deal of our billy lands, that
have been torn topieces With corn.
Whether the platter festiiizes the land,
or only acts as ftimula, are things which
{ I do not know. Long experience is, per-
shaps, the only way of afcertaining this
matter. 1t might, however, be very
proper fubjea of philofophical enquiry;
but, as am no theornt, Ifhsll not at
tempo dilcuilion.
Philosophers would, perhaps, be aswell
employed, and DO more towards I" filling
The mouth of Labor" by fuch invefigati-
ons, than in afcertaining the exact num-
Der OF inches and Fights of an Inch of,
the diameter OF Mammoth's back bone.
l am, however, inclined to think, that
although the platter may not dircaJ fer
tilize foil, yet that it will irdireRy tend
to that purpoIe. Ii will mott certainly
promote the growth Of every kind of grafs,
and grals where fed on, or ploughed
down, ferments and eariches the foil.
1t is (uIpriiiug that men of fenfe fhould
aa 70 ftupidly, as they do in this part Of
Virginia, in the buGnefs Of, cultivating
their lands; and no wonder that they
drive away as fat as poGble to Kentuc-
ky and GennelIee. Although they loofe
by every attempt to make crop, yet they
20 on in the old way-divide large farm
into two lhifts, as they call It, and eve
ry f.cond year one of thefe they plant with
corn and Tow WHEAT amongf it. The corn
is icarcely Efficient TO keep all hands in
Johnny Cake, and a few fpare ears for the
poor lacerated BEATS, until another crop is
ripe, and the wheat crop falls fhort about
one third of what il colt them.
Unlefs more than fix bu!hels of wheat'is
got from an acre, it is looiing buhnels
90 make it. Oae third is to be allowed
for the afc of land,
Say bulhels
For feed, =
Sowing, ploughing, sc.
Reaping, Gacking, gett-
q ing out and taking to
market,
e bufhels