A EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE. 



otherwise, with a spade made thin, with a flange or wing on one 

 side of the blade, resembling, in this respect, a spade for the cut 

 ting of peat, and with a long and curved handle, with a cross- 

 piece at the end, by which it is forced under the sward by a 

 pressure against the thighs of the workman. The work, when 

 performed with the spade, is deemed severe, and it is considered 

 a sufficient day s work for a man to accomplish a quarter of 

 an acre. 



The sods, when collected, are piled in heaps of a larger or 

 smaller size, according to the convenience of the operator, pains 

 being taken to form a sort of furnace beneath, in which are 

 placed some brushwood, fagots, or coal, as in the oven of a 

 brickkiln. The sods are piled over this; and, fire being kindled, 

 attention is paid to prevent its blazing out, so that wherever a 

 hcta is found, by whioh the fire might escape, it is immediately 

 filled up with fresh dirt ; and, as the fire advances, new sods are 

 occasionally heaped upon the pile ; the object being to reduce 

 the whole to ashes by a smouldering fire. It is surprising to 

 find to what a fine state the sods arid vegetable matter may be 

 reduced, and how the burning will continue to go on, though 

 the whole seems to be in a state of perfect quiescence. A 

 thorough burning requires frequently a month, or a longer time, 

 for its completion. 



The headlands of a field are occasionally burned without the 

 rest of the field being subjected to the same process. Here there 

 is always an accumulation of soil, and a collection of rubbish, 

 coarse grass, weeds, or bushes and all these are dug up occa 

 sionally to the depth of six or ten inches, and piled in heaps, and 

 burned as I have above described. In cases where the whole is 

 not consumed, the part which is not sufficiently reduced by the 

 action of the fire is transferred to another heap. Two or three 

 pieces of advice are commonly given in regard to the manage 

 ment of this burning. One is, not to make the heaps too large 

 in the beginning, as the weight of the incumbent mass is liable 

 to extinguish the fire, but to heap it up gradually as the fire goes 

 on ; the second is, not to allow the fire to blaze out, as else it 

 would soon bum itself out ; and a third is, not to make the fire 

 too hot, as otherwise much of the earth, instead of being made 

 to crumble, and reduced to a friable state, would become baked 

 hard, like bricks. 



