44 



BLO 



BOG 



leaving the manure directly under 

 the middle of the new ridges. A 

 light roller is then passed along the 

 ridges in the middle of which the 

 peed is dibbled, about an inch deep, 

 covered with a garden rake, and 

 the light roller is again passed 

 along the ridges. The plants are 

 hoed when about the size of radish- 

 es ; where missing are filled up by 

 transplanting, care being taken to 

 set the points of the roots straight, 

 and left about twelve inches apart 

 in the rows. 



In the year 1 820, John Prince, 

 Esq. of Roxbury, received a pre- 

 mium from Mass. Agr. Soc. for the 

 best crop of Mangel Wurtzel, 

 amounting to six hundred and 

 seventy bushels and an half on one 

 acre. 



BIRD GRASS, or Fozul Sha- 

 dow Grass. See Grasses. 



BLASTING OF STONES, the 

 operation of tearing asunder large 

 stones or rocks. The mode of 

 performing this operation by gun- 

 powder, is too well known to re- 

 quire a particular description. We 

 shall merely mention some im- 

 provements, which we believe are 

 not generally practised. An Eng- 

 lish publication states that a small 

 portion of quick lime, in fine pow- 

 der is found to increase the force, 

 and consequently to diminish the 

 expense, of blasting stonese It is 

 likewise said that saw dust, parti- 

 cularly of soft wood, mixed with 

 gun-powder, in equal parts, has 

 thrice the strength of powder alone 

 in blasting rocks. 



BLOOD. The blood and offals 

 of animals is one of the most pow- 

 erful manures, and no farmer who 



slaughters animals should suffer it 

 to be wasted on his barn floor.— 

 They should be bled on his manure 

 heap, or in his barn-yard, where 

 substances, calculated for manure, 

 are collected. 



BOG, a piece of land with a wet 

 miry soil, or a swamp. Some bogs, 

 when they have a sward of grass 

 roots, will shake and tremble un- 

 der the foot. Such land is unprofit- 

 able, or even a nuisance, until it be 

 drained. But after draining, it be- 

 comes the best of soil, producing 

 the greatest of crops, without any 

 manure. The way to drain a 

 swampi effectually, is to pass a ditch 

 through the middle of it ; and an- 

 other ditch round the border, to cut 

 off the springs which come from the 

 upland. 



In order to judge whether a bog 

 will pay the expense of draining, 

 the depth of the drain which will 

 be necessary at the outlet, and its 

 length, must be considered, and al- 

 so the depth of the soil in the bog. 

 If the soil be very thin, it will not 

 be of so much value when drained. 

 It will be thinner after drying than 

 before ; but it should have depth 

 enough for the deepest ploughing, 

 after it is dried and settled. Other- 

 wise the operation of draining may 

 as well be omitted. See Eliot on 

 Field Husbandry, 



If, however, on inspection the 

 soil be found to consist of peat, or 

 earth closely interwoven with the 

 roots of vegetables, all hopes of 

 making it productive as a soil must 

 be abandoned. In places where 

 fuel is scarce it may be of great 

 value, when dug up in the summer 

 and left to dry. But, of itself, and 



