Book V. MIXED OPERATIONS BY MANUAL LABOUR. 521 



progress; but whore such obstacles present themselves, the breast-spade, or the common team-plough 

 with a small alteration of the share, will be found preferable, both in respect to the extent of ground that 

 can be pared, and the superior manner in which the work in such cases can be performed. Ploughs, from 

 their great expedition and regularity of performing the business, should always be made use of where the 

 nature and situation of the land will admit them, in preference to such tools as require manual labour. 



3213. In some of the western counties, the common plough only is used. There the old grass fields, 

 when it is proposed to burn the sward, are rib or slob furrowed about the beginning of winter; and 

 being again cross- ploughed the following spring, the sods are collected and managed in the manner 

 mentioned in speaking of skirting. In those cases, the plough has, however, a wing turned up on the 

 furrow side of the ploughshare, by which the furrow is cut any breadth required. 



3214. The season for paring and burning is in April, May, and June : the particular period must, how- 

 ever, always depend much on the state of the weather and the nature of the crop. When the east 

 winds prevail, in February and March, this sort of business may sometimes be carried on. But for 

 accomplishing the work with the greatest dispatch, and also with the least trouble and expense, a dry 

 season is obviously the best. The prudent cultivator should not embark in the undertaking, unless there 

 is a reasonable probability of his accomplishing it while the weather keeps dry and favourable. In the 

 more northern districts, the latter end of May or the beginning of June, when the hurry of the spring 

 seed-time is over and a number of hands can be most easily procured, may, upon the whole, be considered 

 the best and most convenient season ; as at this period the green vegetable products are in their most 

 succulent state, and of course may probably afford more saline matter : but, in the more southern counties, 

 either a much earlier season must be taken, or the interval between the hay season and the harvest time 

 must be fixed upon; the latter of which is, on the principle just stated, evidently the best, where the 

 extent of ground to be burnt is not too large. In other seasons it would frequently be impossible to 

 procure a sufficient number of hands for performing the business. In bringing waste lands into cultiva- 

 tion, where an extensive tract of ground is to undergo this process, the autumn may, in many cases, 

 afford a convenient opportunity for the operation. A good deal depends on the crops that are to be sown 

 after paring and burning. When rape or turnips are to be cultivated, the end of May or the beginning of 

 June will be the most proper time; but if barley or oats are to be sown, the paring and burning must be 

 completed as early in spring as the nature of the season will admit : and when lands are pared and 

 burned as a preparation for a crop of wheat, July, or even the beginning of August, may, in favourable 

 seasons, answer ; but it is better to have the ground ready sooner if possible. 



3215. In respect to the depth to which lands of different qualities may be pared with the most advantage, 

 it is obvious that, as it can hardly be proper to pare light thin-stapled soils to the same depths as those of 

 the more deep and heavy kinds, it should, in some degree, be regulated by their particular nature, and 

 their difference in depth and heaviness. Boys, who is in the habit of breaking up thin chalky soils, and 

 such as have been in tillage, in this way, observes, that in Kent, where the method of paring most in use 

 is with down-shares or breast-ploughs, they take off turf as thick as the nature of the soil will admit, from 

 half an inch to two inches; the thicker the better, provided there is a sufficient portion of vegetable 

 matter contained within them to make them burn well. The most usual depths of paring are from about 

 one inch to three. 



3216. In regard to burning, when the season is not very wet, the turves will commonly be sufficiently 

 dried in about a fortnight or three weeks, even without being turned ; but in rainy weather they require 

 a longer time, and must be turned more than once to prevent their striking out roots and shoots, which 

 might hinder them from burning. 



3217. Spreading the ashes. As soon as the turves have fully undergone the process of burning, and are 

 reduced to the state of ashes and a powdery earthy matter, the whole should, as soon as possible, be 

 spread out over the land in as regular and equal a manner as the nature of the work will admit of ; for, 

 without great attention in this respect, great inequality in the crops may take place; besides, the soil will 

 be made lighter in some places than in others, which may be disadvantageous in the same way. The 

 spreading, where it can by any means be accomplished, should always be performed before any rain falls ; 

 as, where this point is not attended to, a great loss may be sustained by the saline matters being carried 

 down in a state of solution, and their beneficial effects in a great measure lost before the crops are in a 

 condition to receive them. In order to secure the full influence of the ashes, the land is frequently 

 slightly ploughed over immediately after the ashes are spread out; and it is stated by Donaldson, that 

 those who are more than ordinarily attentive in this respect, only rib or slob furrow the field, so that the 

 ashes after burning may be covered up with the greater expedition and dispatch. By this mode, how- 

 ever, they probably cannot be so equally mixed with the soil as by that of ploughing the whole field with 

 a very slight furrow, so as just to cover them. 



3218. The expense of the operation of paring and burning will vary according to the nature and situation 

 of the land, the method in which it is performed, and the customs of the district in regard to the price of 

 labour. On the thin sort of chalky soils it is stated by Boys, that the expense for paring at a moderate 

 thickness, where the land is not very flinty, is about equal to four or five ploughings. 



3219. The operation of drying and burning clay for manure is in several respects similar 

 to that of paring and burning the verdant surface. The practice of burning clay has at 

 various times been pursued with energy and success, and at other times has fallen into 

 neglect. The oldest book in which it is mentioned, is probably The Country Gentle- 

 mans Companioti, by Stephen Switzer, Gardener, London, 1732. In that work it is 

 stated that the Earl of Halifax was the inventor of this useful improvement; and that 

 it was much practised in Sussex. There are engravings of two kilns for burning clay, 

 one adopted in England, and the other in Scotland ; where it is said to have been ascer- 

 tained, that lands reduced by tillage to poverty, would produce an excellent crop of 

 turnips, if the ground were ploughed two or three times, and clay ashes spread over it. 

 In the same work, there are several letters, written in the years 1730 and 1731, stating 

 that the plan of burning clay had answered in several parts of England ; and accounts 

 were received from Scotland, that upon experiment it had answered better than either 

 lime or dung, but was found too expensive. The practice is described at length 

 in Ellis's Practical Farmer, or Hertfordshire Husbandman, 1732. In 1786, James 

 Arbuthnot of Peterhead tried several successful experiments with burning clay, and 

 various others have since been made in different parts of the empire. In 1814, the 

 practice was revived and written on by Craig of Cally, near Dumfries, and soon after by 

 General Beatson, near Tunbridge ; by Curwen, Burrows, and several correspondents of 

 agricultural journals. In Ireland, it would appear, the practice prevails in several 

 places, and Craig says he adopted it from seeing its effects there. The result of the 

 whole is, that the benefits of this mode of manuring have been greatly exaggerated; 



