Accept my Thanks for your obliging Letter of the 9th. ult:1 which was lately sent to me, and for the Memoirs of your agricultural Society2 which accompanied it. Marks of friendly Attention from those we esteem, are particularly grateful; and I have delayed making my acknowledgmts. to you only because I wished first to read the memoirs— this I have done with pleasure— some of them are interesting, and the account of the Bridge3 is very much so.— on that Topic you appear to have more Reason to be a little “egotistical” than very “justificatif.” Notwithstanding the faint Praise of some, and the direct Censure of others, it will (like the Treaty you mention) justify itself, and do Honor to those under whose Patronage and Superintendence it was erected.

As to what you have heard of my living very retired, it is to a certain Degree true. The Fact is, that I live very much as I have long wished to do. I have a pleasant Situation, and very good Neighbours— I enjoy Peace, and a Competency proportionate to my Comforts and moderate Desires; with such a Residue of Health, as while it constantly whispers “memento mori” still permits me to see my Friends with Cheerfulness and Pleasure. The Burthen of Time I have not experienced— attention to little Improvements—occasional Visits—the History which my Recollections furnish—frequent Conversations with the “mighty Dead” who in a certain Sense live in their Works—together with the Succession of ordinary occurrences, preserve me from “Ennui” They who really endeavour to “grow wiser and better as their Years wear away”4 feel little Temptation to permit the Fable of the Countryman and his ass to be applicable to them. So much Respect is due to the Dictums of the Day, as they may be worth—every thing beyond it is mere “vox et prateria nihil”.5 Party Feuds give me Concern, but they seldom obtrude upon me. The mass of the People of this Town were steady Whigs during the Revolution, and have been steady Federalists since the Date of the new Constitution. They live so peaceably, that their Law Business would scarcely afford wages to an attorney’s Clerk.

This you may say is a “little egotistical”— I think so too—

on reading (in the Memoirs) the observations of Mr. Bertram6 on the Pea Fly, I took particular notice of his Question “whether oyster shells powdered would not be found to be as good a manure as Plaister or Lime?”— I have made a little Trial of it.

In a Conversation I had last Year, with Judge Miller7 (who is one of my Neighbours) respecting certain Fields along the Sound, which formerly abounded in Shells, and which continued to be remarkably fertile while those Shells lasted, I observed to him that pounded or powdered Shells would probably be a good manure. He soon afterwards passed some Shells thro’ his mill, and sent me about half a Pint of the Powder. I drove four Stakes, about a yard distant the one from the other, into some of the poorest Land near my House— it was light worn out Loam— on this little Square I spread the half pint of Shell powder. Towards the Autumn a fine crop of white clover and spear Grass came on, and flourished until winter. This Spring it assumed the same appearance; and in order to try whether Shell powder or Plaister8 would produce the most durable Effects, I dressed with the latter about a Rod of the adjacent poor Land. The Effect of the Plaister soon rivalled but did not exceed that of the Shell powder— both Pieces flourished very nearly alike until lately. As the dry weather came on, the little Square became less and less verdant, and is now brown and parched, while the plaistered ground (which begins within a Yard of it) remains green.

Judge Miller afterwards sent me about a Peck of this powder, which I spread last Spring on another little Spot in the same Field, and of the like kind as the former— The Effect of it proved to be similar to that of the half Pint used last Year—

altho Plaister succeeds well here, and I have used much of it for Grass, yet I have neglected to try it on garden esculent Vegetables— You have probably been more attentive— Be so good as to inform me, to which of them Plaister is useful; and at what Seasons and in what Quantities it should be applied—With the best Wishes for the Health and Happiness of yourself and Family, and with great Esteem and Regard, I am Dr Sir Yours &c.