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On burning Clay for Manure. By James Mease , M. D. 



The history of agriculture shows that the influence 

 of fashion extends as well to the cultivation of the earth, 

 as to dress, or to any of the common occurrences of life. 

 This remark applies strictly to the subject of using burnt 

 clay for manure, of the utility of which we have heard so 

 much within two or three years past. This practice, it 

 appears, is quite ancient in Europe, and has been pursu- 

 ed with zeal at one time, and at other times fallen into 

 neglect. It is mentioned in " The Country Gentleman's 

 Companion,"* and there stated to have been introduced 

 by the earl of Halifax, in the county of Sussex, in Eng- 

 land. The burnt clay is said to have been found parti- 

 cularly beneficial to turnips, an excellent crop of which 

 would follow, even in worn-out land, if only ploughed 

 two or three times and the clay ashes spread over it. 



The utility of burning clay for manure is also men- 

 tioned in the " Outlines of the 15th chapter of the propo- 

 sed general Report from the Board of Agriculture," (of 

 England,) on the subject of manures, drawn up by the late 

 Robert Somerville, of Haddington, f p. 87. It is there sta- 

 ted, that they are very beneficial " in cases where the soil 

 is very stiff, and strongly retentive of moisture. A mix- 

 ture of burnt clay upon such soils will not only break their 

 cohesion, and make them more easily cultivated, but will 

 also render them less retentive of moisture." Mr. White 

 Parsons, at West Cawel, states, " that he finds lime, after 



* By Stephen Svvitzer, Lond. 1732. t London, 1795. 



