MARCH.] FAKING AND BURNING. 1/5 



on better land. Experiment is against them, for 

 in Yorkshire, land of '20s. and 30s. an acre, has 

 been thus broken up with great success : but in 

 what manner do they reason ? Rich soils are full 

 of vegetable fibres. Then there will be the more 

 ashes. These are in proportion to the organic 

 matter. Peat, which these men admit to be burnt, 

 is the richest soil in the world, and therefore burn- 

 ing the most universally practised on it. The soil 

 itself is not reduced ; if it was rich before burning, 

 assuredly it will be rich after it. 



In addition to these circumstances, is the capital 

 one, of destroying insects, grubs, and weeds. 

 These are apt to abound most in the richer soils ; 

 no reason for abstaining from this husbandry on 

 such. 



I venture therefore to conclude, that paring and 

 burning, with a proper course of crops, is safe on 

 any * soil ; and essentially necessary on some, as 

 I shall presently shew. 



Clay. The gentlemen who have levelled their 

 theories against paring and burning, have not given 

 many reasons peculiarly appropriate to this soil. 

 The only one that merits the least attention, is the 

 assertion, that it converts what is properly soil, 

 into pieces of infertile brick. The fact is not so, 

 for every, one that ever burnt clay for manure, 



* Very rich ones will do exceedingly well in many cases with- 

 out it. This distinction, therefore, should be made. There is, in 

 some cases, no necessity for it : there is in others. 



knows, 



