468 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



[No. 8 



A similar remark will apply to the ashes pro- 

 cured from furze ; lor these are (bund to possess 

 different degrees of strength, in proportion as they 

 are burned, either in tiie brick-kihi, tlie lime-kiln, 

 or oven. Thus it is well known to most Jarmers 

 that, in preparing chalk or limestone tor burning, 

 in most country kilns, these faggots are very gen- 

 erally used, and being placed in the centre of the 

 pile, as the heat increases, and the stones get into 

 a state of calcination, the action of the fire soon 

 affects all the smaller and looser parts of the 

 stone, which fall down to the bottom; and mix 

 with the ashes. Inasmuch, therefore, as burnt 

 lime possesses a greater stimulus than burnt clay, 

 we may conclude that in the isame proportion this 

 refuse from the lin)e-kiln will be more valuable 

 than that from the brick-kiln ; while the ashes 

 produced by tlie baker's oven must be far superior 

 to either, and may rank in much the same class as 

 those obtained by the burning of weeds.* 



The ashes of burnt straw have also been found 

 beneficial by many inl;elligent practical farmers, 

 from some of whose experiments we select the 

 following instances. Advantage was taken of a 

 fine day to fire the stubble of an out-field soon 

 after liarvest, the precaution having been previous- 

 ly taken of sweeping round the boundary to pre- 

 vent injury to the hedges. The operation was 

 easily perforated, by simply applying a light to 

 windward, and it completely destroj'ed every weed 

 that grew, leaving the surface completely cover- 

 ed with ashes ; and the following crop, whicli was 

 wheat, produced full five quarters per acre. This 

 excited further exjieriment, the result of which 

 was, that in the following season, the stubble 

 having been partly ploughed in according to the 

 common practice, and partly burned, and the land 

 sown with wheat, the crop produced eight bushels 

 per acre more on that portion which had been 

 burned, than on that which had been ploughed-in. 

 The same experiment was repeated, on different 

 occasions, with similar results ; and a following 

 crop of oats having been laid down with seeds, 

 the clover was found perfectly healthy, while that 

 portion on which the burning of the stubble had 

 been omitted, was choked with weeds.f To which 

 we must add the experiment on the efficacy of 

 burnt straw, as stated in p. 248 of this work, 

 which, though not supporting the superiority of 

 corn crops over those manured with dung, yet, 

 on those two, in which alone it could have been 

 supposed to have taken effect, it bore a very near 

 degi-ee of equality. It must, however, be recol- 

 lected, that if intended to have a decided effect, 

 the stubble must be left of a considerable length, 



It therefore necessarily follows, that where the kind of 

 timber which has been consumed can be ascertained, 

 the proportion of ashes to be applied per acre oui^ht to 

 vary accordingly ; for, if six loads of the best and pur- 

 est ashes from oak be sufficient, ten or twelve may 

 not be more than equivalent to them when produced 

 from hazel, alder, or sallow ; and by the same rule, if 

 ten or twelve loads of oak-ashes were to be sown, he- 

 cause it may have been the custom to use that quanti- 

 ty of hazel, &,c. the eiiect might be found, in a dry 

 season, to bia-n up tlie crop. See Malcolru's Comp. 

 Modern Husb. vol. ii. ji. ng. 



* Malcohn's Comp. of Mod. Tlusb., vol. ii. p. 184. 



t Survey of the East Riding of Yorkshire ; Com- 

 sflunications totheEoard of Agric, vol. iv. p. 130. 



which will occasion a material deficiency of farm- 

 yard manure; though the advantages will be 

 gained of saving the cost of moving the stubbs, 

 the seeds of weeds and insects will be considera- 

 bly destroyed, and the land will be left unimpeded 

 for the operation of the plough. 



On the wolds of Lincolnshire, the practice of 

 not only burning the stubble, but even the straw 

 of thrashed grain, has been carried, in many 

 cases, to the extent of four to six loads per acre ; 

 and, as it is described in the Report of the Coun- 

 ty, has been attended, in ail those instances, with 

 veiy decidedly good effect. It is even said to have 

 been found superior, in some comparative trials, to 

 yard-dung, in (he respective rate of five tons of 

 straw to ten of manure ! Although placing im- 

 plicit faith in the results thus stated, we cannot, 

 however, but feel stong doubts of the expediency 

 of (he practice ; for we should hesitate to recom- 

 mend any measure that tended to reduce the 

 quantity of farm-yard manure — the application of 

 which is always certain and always durable, 

 whilst the most decided advocates for the burning 

 of straw are compelled to admit (hat its effects are 

 but transitory. Some intelligent farmers, indeed, 

 consider the benefit to arise more fi-om the effect 

 of (he fire in (he destrucfion of weeds and insects 

 than from the small quantity of ashes that are pro- 

 duced; and its chief value must be supposed to 

 consist in the superior degree of cleanness which 

 it imparts to the land.* 



In this country we are accustomed to regard 

 turf as the mere sods cut from the surface of 

 marshes in dry weather, and afferwards burned 

 as fuel, for wdiich purpose it is, in many parts, 

 very generally employed by the peasantry. The 

 quality of ashes thus produced must depend, like 

 every other kind of vegetable manure, upon the 

 nutritive portion of the matter contained in them, 

 and will be treated of in a future chapter, under 

 the head of Paring and Burnmg ; but in most 

 parts of Scotland, and throughout the interior of 

 Ireland, (he term is applied io peat-moss, which is 

 found in many dis(ric(s in quandties which appear 

 inexhaustible, and seem to consist in the accumu- 

 lated remains of aquatic plants, heath, fern, and 

 other vegetable matter, brought into a state of de- 

 composition through (he effects of stagnant Ava- 

 ter : it is indeed so retentive of moisture as to re- 

 tain it in a manner similar (o sponge. It exists in 

 deep pits, from which it is dug in the summer, then 

 cut into squares, either by (he hundred, or by mea- 

 sure, and exposed (o (he sun and air until it be- 

 conaes dry; but when prepared for farming pur- 

 poses, upon a large scale, it is burned, either in 

 kilns or in large heaps, expressly for manure; and 

 (he most usual mode is by means of the slow com- 

 bustion chiefly of the lowest stratum of the peat, 

 as in (hat part, the fibres of the ma((er which it 

 confairis are most decayed. It is also found in 

 many parts of England : but the ashes in the 

 highest, rcpu(c are (hose made at Newbur}^, in 

 Berkshire, (he process of manufac(uring which, as 

 it will serve with very litde variadon for every 

 kind (hroughout (he kingdom, may be (bus de- 

 tailed. 



The stratum of (his Newberry peat lies at va- 

 rious depths, though generally at about five feet 

 below the surfiice, and of the thickness of from 



* Survey of Lincolnshire, p. 304. 



