292 On burning Clay for Manure. 



t I.... . . 



the use of clay ashes, a very powerful manure upon such 

 lands, though it had formerly been tried, in three times 

 the quantity, without doing the smallest service.' ' But 

 upon thin clays any attempt at burning would be highly 

 improper : such lands contain too little of the principles 

 necessary to vegetation. The practice, it appears, is ex- 

 tensively adopted in Ireland ; and in the " Caledonian 

 Mercury," (Edinb. July 15, 1815,) there is a letter from 

 Alexander Craig, of Cally, dated January 28, 1815, to 

 Edward Boyd, esquire, of Merton Hall, giving an ac- 

 count of its utility, and of the mode of conducting the 

 process. The following is an extract from the letter. 



" Being perfectly convinced, both from ocular demon- 

 stration and personal experience, of the infinite utility of 

 clay ashes, as a manure for every kind of crop, as well as 

 a top dressing, Lam extremely anxious that the use of 

 them should become universal. I shall, therefore, have 

 much pleasure in communicating to you every informa- 

 tion on the subject, and I have now sat down to accom- 

 plish that object, as far as lies in my power. Having had 

 occasion, for some years past, to go repeatedly to Ireland, 

 on the business of Mr. Murray's estate there, I was struck 

 with the method adopted in some parts of that country 

 of burning clay, and making use of the ashes in prefer- 

 ence to lime, of which there is such abundance. The 

 method also adopted of causing the clay, just as it is dug 

 out of the ground, and without preparation of any sort, to 

 burn of itself, without the assistance of any combustible, 

 arrested my attention ; and having witnessed the crops of 

 wheat and corn of every description, as well as flax and 

 potatoes, luxuriant almost beyond credibility, produced 

 from stiff clay soils, without the aid of any other manure 



