234 CABBAGES. [PART II, 



for other heaps, because a good shovel full of 

 fire can be carried to light other heaps ; and 

 so, until all the heaps are lighted. Then the 

 workman goes from heap to heap, arid carries 

 the turf to all, by degrees, putting some to 

 each heap every day or two, until all the field 

 be burnt. He takes care to keep in the smoke 

 'as much as possible. When all the turf is put 

 on, the field is left; and, in a week or two, 

 whether it rain or not, the heaps are ashes 

 instead of earth. The ashes are afterwards 

 spread upon the ground ; the ground is 

 ploughed and sowed ; and this is regarded as 

 the very best preparation for a crop of turnips. 

 201. This is called "paring and burning." 

 It was introduced into England by the Ro 

 mans, and it is strongly recommended in the 

 First Georgic of Virgil, in, as Mr. TOLL shows, 

 very fine poetry, very bad philosophy, and still 

 worse logic. It gives three or four crops upon 

 even poor land ; but, it ruins the land for an 

 age. Hence it is, that tenants, in England, are, 

 in many cases, restrained from paring and 

 burning, especially towards the close of their 

 leases. It is the Roman husbandry, which 

 has always been followed, until within a cen 

 tury, by the French and English, It is im 

 plicitly followed in France to this day ; as it 

 is by the great mass of common farmers in 



