No. 4. 



Cooking Grain far Stock, 



109 



habit of putting on double, even treble ttic 

 quantity above stated — bnt I believe, v/ithout 

 havinjf produced proportiuiinbly larger crops 

 from inferior land ; though it has been assert- 

 ed that its effect is very permanent, being 

 especially apparent on the succeeding clover 

 cropp. 



I am inclined to believe, that paring and 

 burning an old ley, will almost produce an 

 equally good etlect, wliere the land is suited 

 for it — for, although the ashes may not be of 

 that sTiperior quality, or possessing all those 

 virtueji peculiar to kelp ashe? ; still, the much 

 greater portion of nshes, that can by this 

 means be spread on the land, may make 

 amends in quantity, for quality. 



An additiojial circumstance in favor of pa- 

 ring and burning, is, that all the seeds of 

 weeds, or the eggs of insects which lie con- 

 cealed in the turf, are thereby destroyed, more 

 effectually, than by any repeated ploughings. 



The careful experience of live years on this 

 head, has convinced me of the propriety of 

 this practiceoccasionally; especially on ground 

 infested with couch, or knot grass. From 

 three acres of land that had been pared and 

 burned, which produced five hundred and forty 

 single horse loads of ashes, I obtained a very 

 heavy crop of turneps — the following year I 

 raised ninety-one thousand pounds of potatoes ; 

 and, by an application of about forty-five bush- 

 els of lime per acre, I have since reaped fifty- 

 one imperial bushels of beautiful wheat per 

 acre ; the straw, also, was of very fine growth, 

 five feet high, and exceedingly white and 

 bright. 



Kelp ashes should lay on the surfaceof tho 

 soil a monlii or two previous to Fowing time, 

 in order to weaken their caustic power, or 

 they are otherwise apt to burn the young and 

 tender shoots of the grain as well as the lar- 

 vtR of insects; but, by laying a certain length 

 of time on the surface expo-ed to the action 

 of the atmosphere, or perhaps, what would be 

 better practice, merely lightly turned mto the 

 soil, they become eminently beneficial. 



T am so partial to the use of ashes, thfit I 

 should recommend those who have laroe 

 woods or forests, to employ women and chil- 

 dren to collect the dry and broken boughs, and 

 under shrubs, to be burned for the sake of the 

 ashes; which would be found nearly equal to 

 those of sea-weed, and cordd thus be pro- 

 cured at a much cheaper rate ; besides gain- 

 ing the advantage of converting what is now 

 wasted, or neglected, into a most valuable 

 and permanent manure, perfectly free from 

 weeds, and destructive to insects and worms. 



Ashes are further beneficial, iiiasnuich as 

 tliey attract the moisture from fogs and dews, 

 and retain it a considerable length of time. 



liime is so well understood as a manure tiir 

 wheat, that it vvonld be a mere waste of time 



to say more on the subject, than as fkf as my 

 own experience goes: it appears to impart 

 a greater degree of wiiitcness to the straw 

 than any other manure. Its other excellent 

 qualities of absorbing moisture from the at- 

 mosphere in dry weather, on light or gravelly 

 soils, and increasing the weight of the grain, 

 are well understood ; it is to be lamented tiiat 

 some general rule for its application is not 

 made known, as, in the best books 1 have con- 

 sulted on the subject, it varies in the extraor- 

 dinary pro]Kirtion from fifty-six to five hundred 

 bu.shels per acre, which last appears to me to 

 be an absurd quiintity. 



1 have found it to answer perfectly at the 

 rate of forty or fifty bushels an acre on a good 

 loam, and I should apprehend that double that 

 quantity ought to be sufficient for the poorest 

 land ; unless it be to destroy moss, when a 

 sfili larger top dressing is required, which, if 

 well harrowed in, does it efiectually. This 

 commixture of turf and lime, if soon after 

 ploughed in, in turn becomes itself a manure 

 for the very soil the turf previously rendered 

 barren. 



Soot is said to be an excellent top-dressing, 

 I have tried it but once, uitiiout having per- 

 ceived the advantageous results that are said 

 to be derivable from it; it is only in the envi- 

 rons of tov. ns, or villages, that it can be ob- 

 tained in sufficient quanty to be available to 

 a large farmei'. 



[To be continued.] 



For the Farmers' Cabinet. 



Ccoliiiis^ drain for Stock. 



In compliance with the suggestions made 

 in the Cabinet, several farmers have procured 

 and put up large boilers for the purpose of 

 cooking corn and other grain for their stock, 

 and so f;ir as trial has been made, it answers 

 expectation fully. In one case two bushels 

 of the h.ard Button corn Mas subjected to the 

 operation of cookirg for several hours, until 

 it was fully expanded ; it was then measured 

 accurately, and it was found to have increased 

 in bulk to five bushels and half a peck. This 

 was a greater increase than was anticipated, 

 and it is thought that the softer, lighter kinds 

 of corn would not increase so much, perhaps 

 not more than double, but trial has not yet 

 been made of it. 



A cask perforated with holes in the bottom, 

 it is found, may Le placed on the top of the 

 boiler, and filled with pumpkins or potatoes, 

 and the steaming of them may sn on at 

 the same time that corn, buckwheat, or 

 oats is cooking in the boiler below. One 

 farmer has adopted the plan of breaking the 

 ears of corn into pieces three or four inches 

 long, and then boilinji or cooki.ng them with- 

 out siielling, and in thai v. uy feeding corn and 



