THE I'AllMiiR'S MAGAZINE. 



4i7 



ON THE PRACTICE OF PARING AND BURNING IN DAUPHINE (FRANCE.) 



By F. R. i)e l\ Trkhonnais. 



Belore I had the pleasure of reading Dr. Voelcl»er's ex- 

 cellent paper upon the suljeet of paring and btirni'U, as 

 practised upon the Cotswolds, in Gloucestershire, ]mblished 

 in the last number of the Royal Agricultural Society's 

 Journal, 1 had intended to write the following rema ks 

 upon the same subject, from notes taken in September last 

 at Grenoble, whither nij' duties as Vice-president of the 

 Agricultural Section of the Scicntilic Congress had called 

 me. I am glad other engagements and more pressing occu- 

 pations have delayed my writing upon this interesting 

 topic, because the perusal of Dr. Voelckcr's able paper 

 has enabled me to elucidate several points which I could 

 not satisfactorily e.xplain ; and, in reciprocity, I feel certain 

 that the result of experiments and observations made at so 

 great a distance from the Cotswold8,and under i:m.h different 

 circumstances, and, moreover, quite independent of his own, 

 will prove interesting to that able Professor, and to those 

 who, like myself, have derived so much pleasure and in- 

 struction from his valuable contribution to the Society's 

 Journal. 



On my way to Grenoble, through the magnificent and 

 fertile plain of Graisivaudan, I had remarked upon many 

 fields a multitude of little mounds, systcmaticallj' arranged, 

 and undergoing the process of burning ; for the careful 

 attention nf the men in attendance, in raking fresh soil 

 over those mounds evincing symptoms of entire combustion, 

 at once led me to suppose that a slow charring, rather than 

 incineration, was aimed at. Subsequent inquiries proved 

 that I was right in my conjectures. 



Numerous e.xcursions in the neighbourhood, and frequent 

 conversations with the farmers, showed me that this prac- 

 tice of burning was a general system throughout the 

 country, and regarded by all as a most useful operation — 

 equivalent, in fact, to a complete application of manure. 



There is nothing for which I entertain so great a respect 

 as those practices based upon the experience of time imme- 

 morial, and handed down from generation to generation, to 

 our own time, although perhaps no one was ever concerned 

 in ascertaining the why and wherefore of such practices; 

 the well-established fact of their efficiency, borne out by the 

 evidence of daily experience, being a sufficient ground for 

 their continuance. 



This practice was the object of much discussion at the 

 Congress. It was pooh-poohed by several. For myself, I did 

 not view it at first with any high degree of favour, although 

 I was ready to admit that it must be attended with some 

 beneficial results, or else its prevalence would not have be- 

 come so constant and so general. I resolved, then, to in- 

 vestigate closely the nature of the operation, to ascertain 

 the chemical character of the soil, and to determine as 

 accurately as possible the chemical reaction and other phe- 

 nomena generated by the process of combustion. 



Happily for my inquiries, tliere were in the Congress 

 several gentlemen residents of the coimtry, who had be- 

 stowed upon that subject a great deal of attention ; and, 

 with their kind help, by which I was saved a great deal of 

 time and trouble, I hive succeeded in satisfactorily ex- 

 plaining the beneficial results of burning, in the peculiarly- 

 constituted soil of the plain of Graisivaudan. 



The practice of paring and burning is evidently one of 

 great antiquity. In the " Tht'atre d'Agriculture," written 

 more than three hundred years ago by the celebrated 

 Olivier de Serres, wc read a very minute description of 

 that operation as jiraclised in his time ; and the advantages 

 he enumerates as resulting from this mode of preparing the 

 land, especially for green crops, so fully bears out the con- 

 clusions arrived at by Dr. Voe'cker and the experience of 

 the farmers in Dauphine', that I am induced to offer to my 

 reader a condensed translation of Olivier de Serres' de- 

 scription, which no doubt will be new to the public, as the 

 bulky work from which I take it n rather rare, and very 

 little known. 



It must be bjrne in mind that tiie following passage was 

 written more than three centuries ago ; and I wish I could 

 render in adequate modern English the quaint and pic- 

 turesque old French style of the author : 



" Since tilling the land is nothing else but to pulverize 

 and scarify it, to render it capable of receiving, nourishing, 

 and bringing the seeds to maturity, it follows that the ope- 

 ration which effects this result t'nc sooner aod the better is 

 the most praiseworthy. It is baking or burning the clod 

 or turf which bears the honour of this husbandry above all 

 other kinds of tillage, by means of which the land is per- 

 fectly well prep ired ; since, being freed from a'd hardness, 

 rooti, and weeds, it is rendered fine, like a?hes, and after- 

 wards fruitful in all kinds of crops. Tiic land, being thus 

 renovated, will produce nothing spontaneously (having no 

 seeds left in its bosom), but will gaily grow all that which 

 you will commit to it. Garden-crops, fruit-trees, vineyards, 

 de'ight in soil thus prepared more than in any other. 

 Meadow-lands are greatly benefited by it, and become 

 richer than anywhere else. In conclusion, this husbandry, 

 by its excellence, may be said to be the quintessence of 

 agriculture, and worthy of admiration ; man having found 

 by this artifice the means of accomplishing in ten days that 

 which it takes the sun several years to do, preparing the 

 land in so .short a time and so well, and this by tire, that it 

 is rendered subtle and obedient to produce anything. That 

 invention came from the burning of torn-up woods and 

 plantations, from which the people grew abundance of corn. 

 For a long time has this mode of cultivation been resorted 

 to upon cold mountains, which thus derive from fire what 

 they lack from the sun." 



Then follows a minute description of the modus operandi, 

 which differs very little from that used in Gloucestershire, 

 and still less from what I have observed in the plain of 

 Graisivaudan. Olivier de Serres recommends this operation 

 to be made in May or commencement of June. The turfa 

 should be first dried, then heaped up over a small faggot, 

 the <'rass side downwards. This heap should be about five 

 feet in diameter at the base, and from four to five feet in 

 height. They should be arranged at regular intervals and 

 in straight lines, for the better distribution of the ashes 

 over the land. The author strongly ri-coinmends to avoid a 

 rapid cinibust-.on, saying, "Clods and turfs must be constantly 

 heaped up over the mou:ids from which smoke issues in too 

 "reat a volume ;" and so much importance does he seem to 

 attach to this point, that he says the fires should be 



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