I did not recieve your Letter of the 22d Feby 'till yesterday. I am much obliged by your Attention to my Request relative to the Enquiries on Plaister of Paris. I find that taking an Airing, or indeed a Gallop, now & then on some of my old Hobby Horses, relieves me from the small & sometimes the great Maladies of the Mind. If I can make these Excursions useful to others, a double Purpose will be answered. The Account given by Mr L. Lewis is exactly as I expected. Your Land is not of the Quality calculated for Plaister. The General has given me many Histories of its Incapacity, & his defeated Attempts. The Plaister mixed with the Dung on the Corn Hills proves my Theory founded on repeated Observation in Clay & cold Soils. It operates on the Dung & promotes its Decomposition by rapid Fermentation. This throws up vigorous Plant & encreases your Fodder. But, at the Time of farming the Ears, & Seeding; the Roots, having left the Hill in Search of Food in a wider Range, find Nothing to supply them with the accumulated Nutriment they require. We find it best, for this Reason, to sow the Plaister over all the Surfaces of our loamy & light Lands. Rich Land or any Sand, & especially from briny Shores, or Marsh Mud, would be the only Manure for your Land. Burning your Clay & spreading it, woud be beneficial. But the Labour of the Task, no Doubt, forbids. Your extensive Cropping too is terrifick. You Spread over a vast Surface, to gather little. You know that I do not hold in small Estimation Virginian Talents—but your farming is deplorably superficial. I have not recieved from Dr Orr any Communication. I will be obliged by your repeating your Request to him— Did the General or you ever try Lime? I think it would do well, Oyster Shells, not burnt, but broken, would also be good. I should think you could obtain these.

The important Law Case you mention was intended only for the secret Journal. But like the Secrets of our great Areopagites they get out of the Key hole, when the Doors are shut. And Secrets on the Subject of Secrets, are the most difficult to keep. Our Friend S.L. is so unconscious of there being any thing ridiculous in the Case, that he gravely quoted it yesterday, as one in Point to another Sort of Embrace, between a Master & his Carpenter—& lest you should deem this Embrace out of Nature it was one in which they close hugged—in a violent Battle on the Quarter Deck; & the Question of Disability again occurred.

It is always with Pleasure I expect you at the Court, but as I often honestly tell you, it is with Pleasure I part with you at the End of it. I have just recieved a kind Letter from my old Friend Jay. He is recovering from a long Attack of the Liver Complaint; & expresses strong Hopes that the Spring will restore him to his wonted Health—which is at best but delicate. I have long loved & admired him. Yours very truly & affectionately