344 On Paring and Burning. 



and burning on some kinds of soils is not only a profitable 

 operation, but that it is, under certain circumstances, by far the 

 most rational plan of cultivation which can be adopted, in our 

 present state of knowledge, for raising upon some kinds of land 

 the largest amount of produce with the least expenditure of 

 money. 



Objections against Paring and Burning. 



Various objections have been raised against paring and burn- 

 ing, amongst which the following three are the principal : — 



1. This practice has been condemned by some writers on the 

 subject, because it destroys the organic matters in the soil, and 

 thus causes a waste in a most important class of fertilising con- 

 stituents. 



2. Others less speculative, and therefore ready to acknow- 

 ledge the benefits arising from paring and burning, notwith- 

 standing object to it because they maintain that, although two or 

 three good crops can be grov/n after paring and burning, this 

 operation will leave the land afterwards in such an exhausted 

 condition that the cost of bringing it again into a profitable 

 state of cultivation will be found greater than the temporary 

 benefit derived from paring and burning. 



3. It is objected to on the ground of expense, and maintained 

 that it is more profitable to lay out money in the purchase of 

 guano, superphosphate, or other artificial manures, than to spend 

 it in paring and burning. 



Let us examine these three objections : — 



1st. With regard to the first objection, it will be observed that 

 it is taken for granted that organic matters are soil-constituents, 

 which, under all circumstances, exercise a beneficial effect on the 

 growth of plants, for which reason it is deemed most important 

 by those who hold this view to preserve them as much as pos- 

 sible in the soil. 



It cannot be denied that organic matters are desirable in most 

 soils. The fact that well-cultivated and productive soils (like 

 many rich wheat loams, and most garden soils) invariably con- 

 tain much organic matter, has led many agriculturists to connect 

 intimately the larger or smaller proportion of organic matter in 

 different soils with their relative productiveness. Not many 

 years ago it was customary with most agricultural writers to 

 estimate the relative state of fertility of different soils by deter- 

 mining the amount of humus, i. e. decomposed organic matters 

 in each. This, however, is clearly contrary to reason and well- 

 ascertained facts ; for there are soils which, like peaty lands, or 

 the soil of poor pastures, contain a very high percentage of 

 organic matter, and yet are quite sterile. On the other hand, 



