r 



vol,, xvi. yo. no. 



AND GARDENER'S JOURNAL 



32 purts. 

 6 " 

 12 " 



40 '' 

 3 " 



7 



ling is another sure tnenns of inducing fertili- 



Iii tliis operation, some indies of the snrfaco, 

 lee|) at least as to enihrace the roots of our 

 itic and otiier growing |ihiiits, is jiared off'. 

 i and burnt, and the ashes s,iread and mixed 



the soil, 

 hese operations may be carried on at any sea- 

 when the ground is not frozen, and when the 

 IS and hands on the farm find leisure. There 

 Jilt few farms, and fewer districts, that do not 

 nd in this element of fertility, 

 iat ashes constitiiie an article of commerce in 

 )pc, and vast quant. ties are transported from 

 and to Belgium and p'landers, to fertilize 

 ; liighly cultivated districts. These ashes 

 about $13 per ton. A bushel of the best sort 

 h are black and heavy, weigh about forty 

 ds, and the ton containing fifty-six bushels, 

 cost of manuring with them, at the rate of 

 een bushels the acre, would be about $4.50. 

 e ashes, according to the analysis of Profes- 

 iraiide, contain, in 100 parts, 

 ' silicioiis earth, 

 dpiiate and muriate of soda, 

 Iphate of lime, 

 rbonate of lime, 

 tide of iron, 

 ipmities and loss, 



The mode of tlieir application in Flanders, is 

 llovis: They are spread upon young clover, 

 ; spring, in calm and hazy weather, at the 

 f eighteen or twenty bushels tlie acre. They 

 so laid on pastures and on wheat in March 

 )ril; on oats and beans in the beginning of 

 and on rye in October and November. Their 

 employment is, however, for green crops; it 

 g been found, on comparative trials in Flan- 



that top-dressed clovers, where the ashes 

 used, were much earlier, heavier, and supe- 

 1 every resjiect, to those which had under- 

 la top-dressing of horse and row dung. One 



best evidences of their utility, is the fact, 



lie clover crop never fails when they are ap- 



Besides improving the crop, they are also 



in |)reventiiig the injuries arising from in- 

 and when applied to [lasture they are high- 

 I'iceahle in the destruction of moss. To n;;- 

 s individual declarations of their beneficial 

 , Sir J(din Sinclair, to whom we are indtbt- 



this part ef our statement, adds the public 

 ation of eighty-three practical Flemish far- 

 to the effect, that "they know by experi- 

 hat when clover is not manured with Dutch 



at the rate of nineteen bushels per acre, the 

 ing crop is very bad, notwithstanding any 

 B that may be given to the soil ; whereas, 

 Iways have an excellent crop cf wheat, af- 

 iver, and, doubtless in jiroportion to the 

 ty of manure then used." The farmers who 



this declaration, in most cases, carted the 

 forty and fifty miles by ^and, after they had 



msporled by water from Holland. See Sir 

 Sinclair's account of the agriculture of the 



lands; also, Radcliff's Flanders. 



the use of peat ashes is not confined to the 

 rlands. The/ are extensively used in Brit- 

 id are produced in large quantities from 

 s termed the Newbury peat. We find in 

 Husbandry, the following description of 

 ode of burning the peat, and statement of 

 Jlication and utility of the ashes: 

 IB peat is cut with a peculiar kind of spade, 

 >ng pieceB, about three and a half inches 



227 



broad every way, after which it is conveyed from 

 the spot where it is dug, in wheel-barrows, to a 

 short distance, where it is spread upon the ground 

 in regular rows, uiilil it be dried by the sun and 

 wind. It is thus cut down until the gravelly bot- 

 tom is reachi'd, if it can be sufficiently drained ; 

 but xlthoiigh persons are employed to pump the 

 water, that cannot always be completely effected. 

 ".Alter having laid thus to dry about a week the 

 pieces are turned, and this being three or four 

 times r(^peated,a small round heaj) is made in the 

 middle of the place where the peat is sjiread, and 

 in the centre, some very dry peat is put, which 

 being lighted, the fire communicates slowly to the 

 rest of the parcel. When it is completely lighted, 

 an ad.litional quantity is put upon the beu|i, and 

 this is continued till the whole is consumed, which 

 generally occupies one or two weeks, and some- 

 times still longer.as quick burning is notapproved 

 of, and rain seldom penetrates deep enough to ex- 

 tinguish the fire. The heaps are commonly of a 

 circular form, and rather flat at to|); at first, very 

 small, but gradually increasing, until they some- 

 times become two or three yards deep, and six or 

 .seven yards in diameter. According as the peat 

 is more or less dry, or contains more or less es- 

 sential oil, or, as it is termed, more or less fat — 

 according as the weather is favorable or other- 

 wise, and in proportion as the heaps are more or 

 less large, just so much a shorter or longer time 

 will it take to consun>e. A fire regularly kept up, 

 but burning by slow degrees, will retain more of 

 the vegetable alkali in it than a more 'quick one ; 

 and in proportion to the heat of the fire, the same 

 quantity of peat will produce more or less ashes : 

 Thus it has been stated by Mr Malcolm, that in 

 the parish of Frimby, in Surrey, three loads of 

 dried peat, which is about the size of the usual 

 heap, will yield from 6 to 7000 bushels, [of peat] 

 which have been sometimes known to yield 2400 

 bushels of good ashes ; though the peat is gener 

 ally so reduced in measure by combustion, that 

 the ashes seldom yield one-fourth of its original 

 bulk. The ashes being riddled, are then convey- 

 ed away in covered carts, and put under sheds to 

 keep them from the wet until they are wanted for 

 the land ; for, if kept under cover and dry, they 

 are infinitely more strong and active than those 

 which have been made some time, and have been 

 exposed to the weather ; the fresher they are, when 

 used, the better. The usual time of apjilying thorn 

 is in Ararch and April, in the proportion of 12 to 

 15 bushels per acre, .iccording to soil and crop, 

 as too large a quantity would be injurious, though' 

 on meadow land, twenty bushels are often laid 

 with advantage ; and when not used as top-dres- 

 sings, they are commonly spread at the same time 

 the seed is sown, though for grass, many people 

 prefer the autumn. For corn crops, however, 

 they are not in much estimation ; but on turnips, 

 they are said to assist in checking the fly, and 

 they are supposed to increase clover nearly a ton 

 of hay the acre, beyond what it would have yield- 

 ed without them. Their effect, however, is not 

 calculated to last more than a couple of years, but 

 they are of such benefit to that crop, and to the 

 succeeding wheat, that when a tenant quits n farm, 

 on which ashes have been laid the preceding year, 

 it is usually customary to allow him one-half the 

 expense." These ashes are sold at Newbury at 

 about seven pence (a New York shilling) the bush- 

 el. They are found to contain from one-fourth to 

 one-third part of gypsum, and sometimes even a 



larger portion. The other constituent parts are 

 a little iron and common salt, with various pro- 

 portions of clay, sand and liine. 



Our attention has been turned to peat earth and 

 peat ashe.-i, at this time, iiarticularly, by a late 

 visit to Slateii Island, where we saw their utility 

 as fertilizers of the soil, favorably developed in 

 the practise of a gentleman, once distinguished in 

 the business of the law, and now no less distin- 

 guished for his enlightened and systematic prac- 

 tise in the business of agriculture. He showed 

 lis the beds of several ponds or ii.arshes, which 

 he hail drained, containing vast ileposites of peaty 

 earth, large quantities of which he was convert- 

 ing into manure, by gome of the processes we 

 hav3 detailed, and also about 5000 bushels of ash- 

 es which he had made recently, by burning peat. 

 His mode of obtaining the latter was as follows: 

 He drained off the water to about three feet below 

 the surface, and when the latter had become sufR- 

 ciently firm, he went on wiih a six ox team, and 

 turned ten or a dozen prairie furrows upon the 

 outer edge of the ileposite. As soon as the turf 

 had dried sufficiently in the summer sun, he [iro- 

 ceeded to construct the centres for his intended 

 pits, by setting up a few sticks of wood and dry 

 brush, at small intervals, around the border, like 

 the centre of a coal-pit. Around these he piled 

 his dryest turf, and having fired the interior, fresh 

 turf was addedr.as cireumstances seemed to war- 

 rant, till the pile became quite large. In this way, 

 with comparatively little labor, he had obtained' 

 his 5000 bushels of ashes, v/hich were principally 

 intended as a top-dressing for his grass lands. So 

 abundant did tliir gentleman consider his resources 

 of feriihty — in bis peat earth and peat ashes — his 

 .sea weed and his fish — in the dung of his animals, 

 from his oxen to his poultry — and in the litterand 

 wash of his yards and kitchen — that he calculates 

 confidently, and we believe on safe grounds, that 

 he would be able to manure 160 acres of land an- 

 nually. 



These hints cannot but be acceptable to farmers 

 on the sea-board ; and the highly commendable 

 example which we have given above, we trust 

 will stimulate them thoroughly to try these neg- 

 l«cted means of enriching their lands. We shall 

 offer further remarks upon this subject in our next 

 number. — ^V. Y. Cult. 



Wheat Flv driven by Smoke. — Mr Jere- 

 miah Stinchfield, of Danvers, informs us that he 

 found the wheat fly very numerous on his wheat 

 a little before sunset ; the next day, about noon, 

 he set fire to some brush that was filled up by the 

 side of the wheHt,and the wind wafted the smoke 

 in abundance all through the wheat. He after- 

 wards examined the wheat frequently, and did not 

 find any of the flies. Htr thinks that the smoke 

 must have been the cause of their sudden disap- 

 pearance. They had already deposited eggs, and 

 the worms have injured his wheat considerably. 

 Perhaps he did not smoke them early enough to 

 save all. — Yankee Farmer. 



Boiled Flax Seed. — This is the season of the 

 year when cattle, horses and sheep, should occa- 

 sionally have a little flaxseed boiled in water, and 

 mixed with their food, if they are fed principally 

 on dry food, the flax seed, as well as the liquid 

 from it, ia the more necessary. 



