The Polytrichum commune, a species of moss, grew plentifully on wet and low meadows between the woods, and in several places quite covered them, as our mosses cover the meadows in Sweden. It was likewise very plentiful on hills.
Agriculture was in a very bad state hereabouts. When a person had bought a piece of land, which perhaps had never been ploughed since the creation, he cut down part of the wood, tore up the roots, ploughed the ground, sowed corn on it, [[185]]and the first time got a plentiful crop. But the same land being tilled for several years successively, without being manured, it at last must of course lose its fertility. Its possessor therefore leaves it fallow, and proceeds to another part of his ground, which he treats in the same manner. Thus he goes on till he has changed a great part of his possessions into corn-fields, and by that means deprives the ground of its fertility. He then returns to the first field, which now is pretty well recovered; this he again tills as long as it will afford him a good crop, but when its fertility is exhausted, he leaves it fallow again, and proceeds to the rest as before.
It being customary here, to let the cattle go about the fields and in the woods both day and night, the people cannot collect much dung for manure. But by leaving the land fallow for several years together, a great quantity of weeds spring up in it, and get such strength, that it requires a considerable time to extirpate them. From hence it likewise comes, that the corn is always so much mixed with weeds. The great richness of the soil, which the first European colonists found here, and which had never been ploughed before, has given rise to this neglect of agriculture, which is [[186]]still observed by many of the inhabitants. But they do not consider, that when the earth is quite exhausted, a great space of time, and an infinite deal of labour is necessary to bring it again into good order; especially in these countries which are almost every summer so scorched up by the excessive heat and drought. The soil of the corn-fields consisted of a thin mould, greatly mixed with a brick coloured clay, and a quantity of small particles of glimmer. This latter came from the stones which are here almost every where to be met with at the depth of a foot or thereabouts. These little pieces of glimmer made the ground sparkle, when the sun shone upon it.
Almost all the houses hereabouts were built either of stone or bricks; but those of stone were more numerous. Germantown, which is about two English miles long, had no other houses, and the country houses thereabouts, were all built of stone. But there are several varieties of that stone which is commonly made use of in building. Sometimes it consisted of a black or grey glimmer, running in undulated veins, the spaces between their bendings being filled up with a grey, loose, small-grained [[187]]limestone, which was easily friable. Some transparent particles of quartz were scattered in the mass, of which the glimmer made the greatest part. It was very easy to be cut, and with proper tools could readily be shaped into any form. Sometimes however the pieces consisted of a black, small-grained glimmer, a white small-grained sandstone, and some particles of quartz, and the several constituent parts were well mixed together. Sometimes the stone had broad stripes of the white limestone without any addition of glimmer. But most commonly they were much blended together, and of a grey colour. Sometimes this stone was found to consist of quite fine and black pieces of glimmer, and a grey, loose and very small-grained limestone. This was likewise very easy to be cut, being loose.
These varieties of the stone are commonly found close together. They were every where to be met with, at a little depth, but not in equal quantity and goodness; and not always easy to be broken. When therefore a person intended to build a house, he enquired where the best stone could be met with. It is to be found on corn-fields and meadows, at a depth which varies from two to six feet. The pieces [[188]]were different as to size. Some were eight or ten feet long, two broad, and one thick. Sometimes they were still bigger, but frequently much less. Hereabouts they lay in strata one above another, the thickness of each stratum being about a foot. The length and breadth were different, but commonly such as I have before mentioned. They must commonly dig three or four feet before they reach the first stratum. The loose ground above that stratum, is full of little pieces of this stone. This ground is the common brick coloured soil, which is universal here, and consists of sand and clay, though the former is more plentiful. The loose pieces of glimmer which shine so much in it, seem to have been broken off from the great strata of stone.
It must be observed that when the people build with this stone, they take care to turn the flat side of it outwards. But as that cannot always be done, the stone being frequently rough on all sides, it is easily cut smooth with tools, since it is soft, and not very difficult to be broken. The stones however are unequal in thickness, and therefore by putting them together they cannot be kept in such straight lines as bricks. It sometimes likewise happens that pieces break off when they are cut, and [[189]]leave holes on the outside of the wall. But in order to fill up these holes, the little pieces of stone which cannot be made use of are pounded, mixed with mortar, and put into the holes; the places thus filled up, are afterwards smoothed, and when they are dry, they are hardly distinguishable from the rest at some distance. At last they draw on the outside of the wall, strokes of mortar, which cross each other perpendicularly, so that it looks as if the wall consisted wholly of equal, square stones, and as if the white strokes were the places where they were joined with mortar. The inside of the wall is made smooth, covered with mortar and whitewashed. It has not been observed that this kind of stone attracts the moisture in a rainy or wet season. In Philadelphia and its environs, you find several houses built of this kind of stone.
The houses here are commonly built in the English manner.
One of Mr. Cock’s negroes showed me the skin of a badger (Ursus Meles) which he had killed a few days ago, and which convinced me that the American badger is the same with the Swedish one. It was here called Ground Hog.
Towards night I returned to Philadelphia. [[190]]
October the 12th. In the morning we went to the river Skulkill, partly to gather seeds, partly to collect plants for the herbal, and to make all sorts of observations. The Skulkill is a narrow river, which falls into the Delaware, about four miles from Philadelphia to the south; but narrow as it is, it rises on the west side of those high mountains, commonly called the blue mountains, and runs two hundred English miles, and perhaps more. It is a great disadvantage to this country, that there are several cataracts in this river as low as Philadelphia, for which reason there can be no navigation on it. To day I made some descriptions and remarks on such plants as the cattle liked, or such as they never touched.