148 



Burnt Clay as a Manure. 



Vol. III. 



could l)e orown on such a soil, it would be 

 an end greatly to be desired, and of much 

 national importance. 



An observation which I made, leads me 

 to believe that such will be the result. In 

 a piece of land which had been ill-prepared, 

 and was poor and out of condition, a crop 

 of white wheat had been sown; it scarcely 

 grew three feet in height — but among it was 

 a plant of fine, tall, rich brown wheat, with 

 a large, round, but rather coarse grain. It 

 proved a highly productive variety. Had I 

 happened to have sown the field with all 

 such, instead of having only had twenty 

 bushels per acre, I should probably have 

 leaped forty. 



Surely the attainment of such results 

 ought to be a matter of grave inquiry, as a 

 means of increasing the national wealth. 

 It is not my object, however, to write a trea- 

 tise on political economy, but I shall not 

 hesitate to point out, what appears to me to 

 be a legitimate and certain mode of augment- 

 ing the capital of the kingdom, by the 

 means of husbandry, now in so depreciated 

 a state. 



The importance of the exact adaptation 

 of plants or their varieties to particular soils, 

 has lately been hinted at, in other terms it is 

 true, by a medical professor of great tiilent and 

 research ; who has traced the origin of the 

 cholera in India, to improper food, or to the 

 use of ill-grown and vitiated rice. There 

 can be no doubt, that if wheat, iinsuited to 

 a particular soil be sown, the chances are 

 that it will not be properly ripened, espe- 

 cially if in a moist or northern climate, 

 where September or October weather may 

 catch it ; under such circumstances, the 

 crop must be reaped, thrashed out, and per- 

 haps sold at a low rate, at all events some- 

 body must eat it, so that an unripe, impure, 

 deteriorated aliment is circulated, to the 

 injury of some portion of society; had the 

 seed been such as suited the soil, the con- 

 trary might be expected : a well-ripened 

 crop, enaMing the farmer to pay his rent; 

 and a wholesome nutriment being brought 

 into the market. Ten or twelve years ago, 

 a beautiful crop was sacrificed in the follow- 

 ing manner. It was about the period that a 

 good deal was written and circulated respect- 

 ing the great advantages to be derived from 

 cutting wheat while the grain was not fully 

 ripened, as a means of considerably increas- 

 ing the quantity of meal. 



It was therefore reaped in an almost green 

 state, while the thumb nail could be pressed 

 through the grain, the consequence was, 

 that it shriveled, and I imagine never dried, 

 for when it was ground into meal, and pre- 

 ])ared for baking, the dough would not rise, 

 and the bread it produced was so heavy 



(absolutely lead-like and indigestible,) that 

 it was unfit for ordinary human stomachs, 

 and nearly the whole crop was given to the 

 pigs. 



It will not answer to run into extremes in 

 farming, all beginners should deviate from 

 the usual practice with caution, and com- 

 mence with small experiments, which when 

 established to be on correct principles, can 

 be extended with safety, 



[To be cunlinued.] 



To the Editor of the Farmers' Cabinet. 



Burnt Clay as a Manure. 



Sir, — Much has been said of late in refer- 

 ence to the burning of clay for manure, and 

 in some sections of our county it is practised, 

 I learn, with success. That it may be ren- 

 dered valuable, and highly so, in certain lo- 

 calities, I firmly believe ; but that it would 

 be advisable for our farmers, in regions where 

 calcareous and mineral manures either abound, 

 or are easily and cheaply obtained, I have 

 serious doubts. Yet, inasmuch as it has 

 excited some interest, and as it is advisable 

 for information on all subjects connected 

 with agriculture to be widely disseminated, 

 I take \l\e liberty to present to the readers of 

 the Farmers' Cabinet, in a brief form, the 

 experience of some intelligent men who have 

 attended to the subject. And here I cannot but 

 express my regret that the plan of burning 

 and applying clay as a manure has not been 

 thoroughly carried out in this country. Too 

 many enter upon new experiments with ap- 

 parently exhaustless zeal, but it all evapor- 

 ates with the first discouraging circumstance 

 they encounter. They stop short, and the 

 enterprise is generally abandoned in disgust 

 and forever. And not only so, hut the per- 

 sons thus failing in their untimely or ill-di- 

 rocted experiments throw the whole weight 

 of their conversational influence against the 

 thing itself. Now, one great reason to my 

 mind, why so many of our agricultur;{l 

 friends fail in their experiments is, not that 

 they expect too threat, but too iminiediate 

 results, from their eflbrts. Dit^appointment 

 fallows, and abandonminit of the jiroject in 

 which they are engaged ensues of course. 

 Now no one is better calculated to make ex- 

 ]ieriments than the farmer. He can do it on 

 a small scale, and increase in proportion as 

 the results may justify him in doing so>. 

 These are advantages that no farmer should 

 forego — ^lie should test every tiling for him- 

 self, and hold fast unto that wiiich is best. 



The operation of drying and burning clay 

 for numure has been practised in Kurape for 

 many years, and more or less in this country 

 for sixty years past; but wherever tried 

 with us it has been abandoned, or fallen into 



