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Vol. III.
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Marsus and Swamps ; so that a Cita Je! Built upon thep««/, trouid almostbe Impregnable, being it could be Attack’d no way but one, which is fbNarrow a Slender Neck of Land, that it would be difficult to Take itthat way: And it would secure James-Town from being Blocked being itwould not be past a Mile by Water, to the Point of James-Town-Ißand ;and the Istand is so surrounded with Water and Marfbj Land, that the Towncould never be Bomb’d by Land.

But now to Return to the Reflectiong of Improvtng, and A lanurittg ofLand in Virginia , hitherto, as I have seid, they have ufed none but that ofCeyj-Pcnntng ; yet I siippose they might find very good Marie in manyplaces: I have seen both the Red and Blew-Marle at fome Breaks ofHilis. This would be the Properest Aianure for their Sandj Land, if theyfpread it not too Thick, theirs being, as I have said, a SbaUow Sandjooil : which was the Reafbn I never advis'd any to use Lime y tho’ they havevery good Lime of Ojster-Sbeüi ; but that’s the properest Manare for ColiClay Land t and not for a Sand] Soil. But as most Lands have one Swampor anotber bordering on them, they tnay certainly get Admirable Slitck,wherewith to Mamrt ali their Up-Lands. But this, sey they, will notImprove Ground, but Clods and Grows Hard. ’Tis true, it will do so forfome Time, a Lear or Two at the first; but did they cast it in Heaps, and letit lie for 2 or J Te ars, aster a F roß or Two had seir'd it, and it had been weilPierc’d therewith,! doubt not it wuold turn to good Account. And for this, Ihave fbmething tnorc than bare Conjecture for Discoursing it once with agood Notable Planter , we wentto view a Heap thereof that casually he hadcast up ’twixt 3 or 4 Tears before, and we found it not very JJinding,but rather a Fine Natural Mould : whereupon he did Confess, he then Re-member*d that out of a Ridge of the like Mould, he had had very LargePlants, which must have been of the like Slime or Sitteb cast up before.But he seid, that himself and others Despair’d of this Manurt, because theyhad taken of this Slisch Frefh and Moist out of the Swamp, and fill’d Tobac-co-Hiüs wich it, and in the midst of it Planted their Plants : which fb boundthe Roots of their. Planst, that they never came to any thing.

They neither Houfe nor Milk any of their Cows in Winter, having aNotion that it would Kill them: yet I perswaded the Lady where I Liv’d,to Milk e^Cows the last Winter that I stay’d in theCountry, whereof fhefound so good Effect, that fhe assur’d me fhe would keep to my Advice forthe Future; and alse, as 1 had further tlrg’d, Houfe them too, for whichthey have mighty Conveniencies, their Tobacco-Houfis being Emptyever afthat Time ot the Year, and may easily be fitt’d in 2 or z Days time with»out any Prejudice, whereby their Gattei would be tnuch Shclcer’d sromthose Pinching Sharp Frofis that seine Nights on a Sudden become very Se-vere. I had another Project for the Preservation of their Cattel prov’dvery Succefsfull; I urg’d the Lady to Sow her Wbeat as Early as poiüblyine could, so that before Winter it might be well Rooted, to be Early andFlourllhing at the first of the Spring : So that fhe might turn thereon hetWeak Cattel, and such as fhould at any time be Swamp d, whereby they

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