266 Review of the 



sects; and our citizens would be at a less risk from fire, by having a 

 brick vault on the premises, for safe keeping them. In England, a pri- 

 vate dwelling is not considered complete without an ash-vault; and a 

 good farmer would dispense with his barn, rather than be destitute of 

 an ash-house. I have known farmers to supply the cottagers with as 

 much peat as they could burn, on condition of their saving them the 

 ashes; and there are some that will keep men under pay throughout 

 the year, burning peat for the same purpose; and any thing that has 

 passed the fire is so valuable, that a chimney-sweep will ^frequently 

 clean chimneys for the sake of the soot, which is conveyed miles into 

 the country, and sold at a price sufficient to reward the collectors, be- 

 sides paying all expenses; even the housekeeper's ashes in cities is a 

 marketable article at all times; at from ten to twenty-five cents per 

 bushel, when kept dry and clean, and a guinea a load, was formerly 

 the common price in the villages of Berkshire and Hampshire. 



" While on this subject, I would urge the importance of a spring 

 dressing of ashes. If cultivators were to prepare turfs from tanners' 

 bark, peat earth, coal dust mixed with clay, cow dung, &c., and get 

 them dried in the sunuiier season, these, by being preserved through 

 the winter, may be burned around fruit orchai'ds, while the trees are in 

 blossom, and, if the fires are properly managed, a smoke may be kept 

 up, by heaping on damp litter every night; this Avill prove pernicious to 

 such insects as may reside in the trees, and the ashes being spread on the 

 ground, will serve as a means for the destruction of others. An orchard 

 thus managed every year will need no other manure. The smoking should 

 be effected first on one side of the plantation, and afterwards on the other, 

 or heaps may be pi'epared in different parts of the orchard, and fire ap- 

 plied, according as the wind may serve, to carry the smoke where it is 

 most necessary. I know a gardener in the neighborhood of New York, 

 who saved his plums and nectarines by burning salt hay, after its hav- 

 ing been used as a covering for his spinach; and I have no hesitation in 

 recommending it as an excellent remedy for securing fruit trees from 

 insects, especially if some coarse tobacco could be procured to add to 

 it. The damper the materials are, in moderation, the more smoke 

 they will create; and if a little tar, pitch, sulphur, or other pernicious 

 combustible, be sprinkled amongst them, it will be beneficial. This sub- 

 ject appears to me of the utmost consequence to the farmer, as well as 

 to the community at large. 



# j( » # # * 



" Now I would ask, how is it that ashes are not as valuable to the 

 farmer here, as they are in Europe? The extreme heat of the summers 

 must certainly engender insects in equal if not greater proportions; and 

 as respects manure, it must be scarcer in some parts of this extensive 

 country, than it is in the densely populated countries of Europe. Per- 

 haps some may answer, that ashes are already used by our cultivators 

 to a considerable extent; but I would remind such, that from the cir- 

 cumstance of their being mixed up with other manures, and exposed to 

 all sorts of weather, (as in our city,) they lose their virtue, so that a 

 load may not be worth more than a bushel would be, if kept dry and 

 clean. The farmers of Europe consider peat ashes of more value than 

 any others, and I am persuaded, that could they be fairly tested by 

 some of our best cultivators, great good may result to the community. 

 If the tarmers of England can afford to keep men under pay, pepetu- 

 ally burning jjcat for the sake of the ashes, it is natural to su])pose that 

 the poor of our community may be placed in easier circumstances as 

 respects the article of fuel. Thousands of acres of land are to be 

 found in the States of New York and New Jersey, and within a few 

 miles of this city, wl^-'-h abound with peat earth; and the owners of 



