184 



FOREIGN NOTICES. 



there should be found more men, of Mr. 

 Wadsworth's benevolent spirit, who would 

 use extraordinary means of disseminating 

 it in all parts of the country. We cannot 

 but think that it will, wherever it becomes 

 known, perform a service of public good of 

 no trifling and unimportant nature. As a 

 people, we profess to be deeply alive as to 

 the cause of education ; and thousands and 



millions of dollars are spent annually, 

 throughout the length and breadth of the 

 country, to promote its objects. But, in 

 order to get satisfactory results from our 

 schools, the public m-ust be roused to a 

 stronger interest in, not only what the 

 schools can do, but what they are ; for the 

 two bear much more closely on each other 

 than is generally supposed. 



FOREIGN NOTICES. 



On Burning Clay. — I have i^reat pleasure in 

 communicating wiiat I know of the benefits of 

 burned earth as a manure. I have used it for 

 wheat and for root crops with decided advantage, 

 although I have not, unfortunately, kept a statis- 

 tical account of the ditTerenee ; still, so obvious 

 were the results that I have been induced to use a 

 much larger quantity the present season, and my 

 neighbors are following my example. It was used 

 at the rate of lOOO bushels per acre on a wheat 

 field sown with clover, leaving the middle of the 

 field undone. The benefit was striking, not only in 

 the wheat, but in the young clover. The whole of 

 the field had been top manured with guano, har- 

 rowed in with the seed. Where the burned earth 

 was not used, the clover plants and the wheat were 

 inferior. 



It may be proper to explain that it was not turfy 

 earth full of vegetable matter, but a poor, cold, ar- 

 gillaceous, tenacious clay, such as is used for 

 making bricks, yellow in colour, but becoming 

 when burned a pale red or orange : the interior of 

 some of the largest lumps being black or carbona- 

 ceous (I presume the small quantity of vegetable 

 matter concentrates there); occasionally this soil 

 contains a fair proportion of round pebbles. 



The mode of raising and burning is this — a strip 

 of land is broken up in very dry weather with Ran- 

 Bome's Y. L. plow, drawn by three strong horses 

 abreast, and a Scotch equilibrium whippletree. So 

 great is the resistance that it requires two men to 

 hold the handles of the plow to counteract the leve- 

 rage of the horses. The earth is thus broken, or I 

 may say torn up in immense rough masses or clods 

 as much as a man can carry, which are admirably 

 adapted to form walls and supports for the mass of 

 fire. By this means heaps of nearly 200 solid yards 

 may be readily burned. The earth being plowed 

 up, the fires are formed on the spot, the workmen 

 placing a certain quantity of dried stumps or wood 

 ol sufficient solidity to maintain a body of heat, and 

 enclosing the mass with large clods. These are 

 carried by hand : subsequently, as they get more 

 distant from the fire, a barrow is used, and beyond 

 that a one-horse cart. 



It is important to have the sides of the heap as 



upright as possible — not conical — because the heat 

 always makes for the highest place. An important 

 point in burning is to supply the fire sufficiently 

 fast to prevent its burning through, and yet avoid 

 overlaying it, which might exclude all air, and put 

 it out. Practice will indicate the medium. When 

 the fire shows a tendency to break through, the 

 outside of the burning mass is raked down, and 

 more earth added. 



If the ground is very dry, and no rain falls, the 

 men are obliged to feed the fire almost continually 

 night and day; but when there is moisture, it may 

 be left for five or six hours, but seldom longer. 

 Something depends on the current of air. A strong 

 wind would blow the fire from one side and out at 

 the other. This is guarded against by placing 

 hurdles interlaced with straw as a guard to wind- 

 ward. The size of a heap is limited by the h'^ight 

 to which a man can throw up the soil, and of course 

 the diameter must be proportioned to the height, 

 to prevent its slipping down. It is generally light- 

 ed so as to burn out by Saturday, and not require 

 Sunday attendance. This mode of burning may be 

 essentially called summer burning, because we find 

 practically that heavy rains put out the fires, or 

 check their progress. Where fuel is abundant, or 

 coal cheap, I have reason to believe fires may be 

 kept up through the winter. I have this autumn 

 plowed up, or rather broken up, and burned four 

 acres of a poor rye-grass lea. This has produced 

 KiOO cubic yards. 1000 of which I have carted on to 

 the neighboring fields, leaving 150 yards per acre 

 on the field itself as a compensation. The cost per 

 100 cubic yards is as follows : — 



Labor and burning at 5d jG2 3 4 



Fire-wood at 4?. 6d. per fathom,, .... 8 4 



Plowing and horse labor, 08 3 



Carting and spreading according to distance. 

 When spread, as there are many large lumps, we 

 roll the field with Crosskill's clod-crusher in a dry 

 time. This pulverises the burned earth, and we 

 then bush-harrow to distribute it equally. Our 

 young clover so treated promises well. As the 

 portion of ground on which the fire is made is gene- 

 rally burned six inches below the surface, it is pro- 

 per to dig it out and spread it around, otherwise so 



