468 



SCIENCE OF AGRICULTURE. 



Part II. 



fire is made should face the wind if possible, and if the process has been properly con- 

 ducted the clay will be effectually burnt. By commencing with a centre grating in the 

 form of a cross {Jig- 416. ^ the workman may build from 

 four ends in the place of two ; this contrivance will afford 

 a facility in the work, and have a draft of wind at two 

 entrances. 



2988. The advantage of this mode of burning clay is 

 the savin" of cartage, as the clay may be always burned 

 where it is dug. 



2989. Burning clay and surface soil by lime without 

 fuel, has been practised by Curwen, {Farm. Mag. vol, 



xvi. p. II, 12.) in the following manner. Mounds of 

 seven yards in length, three and a half in breadth, are 



kindled with seventy-two Winchester bushels of lime. 



First, a layer of dry sods or parings, on which a quantity of lime is spread, mixing sods 

 with it, then a covering of eight inches of sods, on which the other half of the lime is 

 spread, and covered a foot thick ; the height of the mound being about a yard. In 

 twenty-four hours it will take fire. The lime should be immediately from the kiln. 

 It is better to suffer it to ignite itself, than to effect it by the operation of water. When 

 the fire is fairly kindled, fresh sods must be applied. Mr. Curwen recommends obtaining 

 a sufficient body of ashes before any clay was put on the mounds. The fire naturally 

 rises to the top. It takes less time, and does more work to draw down the ashes from 

 the top, and not to suffer it to rise above six feet. The former practice of burning in 

 kilns was more expensive ; did much less work ; and, in many instances, calcined the 

 ashes, and rendered them of no value. 



2990. Use of pyrites in burning clay. A writer in The Farmer s Journal (Dec. 1821\ 

 asserts that " the greater part of ni^ny beds of cold clay contain in them a substance, 

 or ingredient, which is in itself, to a great degree, combustible, as is known to every 

 brick-burner. This probably is, in most cases, the sulphur of the pyrites contained in 

 the clay ; but be it what it may, it prevails to such a degree, that a very small quantity of 

 fuel is usually sufficient to burn a very large body of clay. It is only requisite to have 

 sufficient fuel to set fire to the heap at first, so as to raise a body of heat ; and, for the 

 rest, the clay will nearly burn of itself, being judiciously arranged round and upon the 

 burning centre. The ashes are in the best state when they have been exposed only to a 

 moderate heat ; namely, to a heat not only far below what will produce vitrification, but 

 even so low as not to produce a permanent red color : the black ashes, or dirty red, and 

 brownish red, being made superior in value to bright red ashes, that is, to well burnt 

 bricks. The heat is moderated chiefly by the judicious application of the crumbs and 

 mouldering fragments of clay or soil, so as to prevent the draft of the air through the 

 apertures between the large clods or tufts from being too free. A very small admixture 

 of vegetable fuel suffices to keep up the fire. 



2991. The application of burnt clay as a manure is the same as that of lime: it is 

 spread over fallows or lands in preparation for turnips, at the rate of from thirty to fifty 

 loads or upwards per acre. 



p. II. 



Agricultural Operations requiring the Aid of Laboring Cattle. 



2992. Operatio7is requiring the aid of laboring cattle, are in a peculiar manner entitled 

 to the appellation of agricultural. Almost all the operations described in the former 

 Chapter, may be performed by common country laborers j but those we are now to 

 enter on, are exclusively performed by. farm servants. They may be classed as 

 operations for the use and management of live stock, labors on the soil, and compound 

 operation . 



Sect. I. Operations for the Care of Live Slock. 



2993. Herding or tending of cattle is the simplest operation with domestic animals. 

 It consists in conducting them to a certain pasturage ; keeping them within the pre- 

 scribed limits; preventing them from injuring one another; observing if any are dis- 

 eased, and the like. It is commonly performed with the aid of the dog, and by boys or 

 girls for a small herd or flock, and aged or elderly men for larger herds. In modern 

 limes, the place of the cow and cattle herd is generally supplied by fences ; but where large 

 Hocks of sheep are kept, it is still necessary to have a shepherd; not, in many cases, so 

 much to keep the flock together and in Us proper place, as to watch the progress of their 



