1836.] 



FARaiERS' REGISTER. 



469 



one foot to eight or nine, the ground underneath 

 being very uneven, and mostly gravel; that which 

 is above commonly consists of a good meadow 

 soil. The hills at each side consist chiefly o(" 

 chalk, easily dissolvable by heavy rain, which 

 washes it oil' the ridges, down to the low ground, 

 where, mixing wi!li the floods, it is floated over 

 the meadows, and deposited in the peat; the 

 ashes, therefore, difler from those of most other 

 districts, in the quantity of lime which they con- 

 tain, to which their extraordinary valuable quali- 

 fies have been chiefly attributed. The peat varies 

 in color, but the blackest is reckoned the best, and 

 the most esteemed ashes have a reddish hue ; 

 those which are pale and whitish, being of a 

 species of earth compounded of clay, and termed 

 'clob,' which, though burned for manure, lies 

 above the true peat, and is of a diflerentand very 

 inferior quality. This being removed, the real 

 peat is cut, with a peculiar kind of spade, into 

 long pieces, about 3.| inches broad every way, 

 after which it is conveyed from the spot where it 

 is dug, in wheelbarrows, to a short distance, Avhere 

 it is spread upon the ground in regular rows until it 

 be dried by the sun and wind. It is thus cut down 

 until the gravelly bottom is reached, if it can be 

 sulficiently drained; but although persons are em- 

 ployed to pumj) the water, tho.t cannot be always 

 completely efl'ccted. 



After having been thus laid to dry during 

 about a week, the pieces are turned, and this being 

 three or four times repeated, a small round heap 

 is made in the middle of the place where the peat 

 is spread, 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 com- 

 pletely lighted, an additional quantity is put upon 

 the heap, and this is continued till the whole is 

 consumed, which generally occupies one or two 

 weeks, and sometimes still longer, as quick burning 

 is not approved ofj and the rain seldom penetrates 

 deep enough to extinguish the fire. The heaps 

 are commonly of a circular form, and rather flat at 

 top : at first very small, but gradually increasing, 

 until it sometimes becomes two or three yards 

 deep, and six or seven yards in diameter. Ac- 

 cording as the peat is more or less dry, or cont;'Jns 

 more or less essential oil, or, as it is tenned, is 

 more or less lat — according as the weather is fa- 

 vorable or otherwise, and in proporiion as the 

 heaps are more or less large, just so much a long- 

 er a shorter time will it take to consume. A fire 

 regulately 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 Frimley, in Surrey, 

 three* loads of dried peat, which is about the si'i.e 

 of the usual heap, will yield from 6000 to 7000 

 bushels, which have been sometimes known to 

 yield 2400 bushels of good ashes;! though the 

 peat is generally so reduced in measure by com- 

 bustion that the ashes seldom eoual one-fourth of 

 ts original bulk. The ashes being riddled, are 

 hen conveyed away in covered carts, and put un- 

 ler sheds to keep them from the wet until they 

 ire wanted for the land ; for if kept under coveV 



* So in the original. Ed. Fak. Reg. 



t Agriculture of Surrey, &c., vol. ii. p. 193. 



and dry, they are infinitely more strong and ac- 

 tive than those which have been made some time, 

 and have been exposed to the weather; the fresher 

 they are when used, therefore, the better. The 

 usual time of app.lying them is in March and 

 April, in the proportion of twelve to fifteen bush- 

 els per acre, according to the 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-dressings, 

 they are"^ commonly spread at the same fime as 

 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 woi'.ld have yielded with- 

 out them : their eflect, 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 a {hrn\ on which 

 ashes have been laid hi the preceding year, it is 

 usually customary to allow him one-half of the 

 expense. The price, at Newbury wharfj varies 

 according to qupjity; but the best is generally 

 sold at about sevenpence per bushel. One man, 

 with a double cart, can sow several acres in a day, 

 but the weather should be perfectly calm, or they 

 will be unequally dispersed by the wind.* 



In a series of experiments, for a long time car- 

 ried on upon these ashes they were found to con- 

 tain from one-fourth to one-third part of gypsum 

 and even a larger proportion of that substance 

 was discovered in some burned in the neighbor- 

 hood of Stockbridge, in Hampshire. The other 

 constituent parts consisted of a little iron and com- 

 mon salt, with various quantities of aluminous, 

 calcareous, and stilceous earth ;t and the analysis 

 of some very celebrated peat-ashes, brought some 

 years ago fJ"om Holland, in which country and 

 Flanders they are most extensively used as ma- 

 nure, as made by Professor Brande, showed them 

 to contain, in 100 parts, 



or Siliceous earth, - - 32 parts. 



Sulphate and muriate of soda, 6 ,, 



Sulphate of lime, - - 12 „ 



Carbonate of do. - - 40 ,, 



Oxide of iron, - - 3 „ 



Impurities and loss, - - 7 ,, 



from which we may readily conclude the great de- 

 gree of advantuc;e with which they must be ap- 

 plied to sour meadows, as well as to every species 

 of artificial grass. 



The Dutch ashes, indeed, as we learn both from 

 Sir John Sinclair's account of the agriculture of 

 th'e Netherlands, and from another statement late- 

 ly published regarding their use,J are very exten- 

 sively used throughoui Flanders, in the following 

 manner: — 



In jMarch the wheat is worked with the hoe be- 

 tv/ecn the rows, and sown with clover, and in 

 May the wheat is hand- weeded. The crop being 

 reaped, the land is harrowed in the following 



* Surveys of Berkshire, p. 359, and Appendix, No. 

 Ill ; Hertfordshire, p. 166 and of Middlesex, 2nd ed. 

 p. 363. 



t Sir H. Davy's Elem. of Agric. Chemistry, p. 298. 



I ISIitchell on Dutch Ashes as Manure. Quart. 

 Journ. of Agric, Nc>. xxi. 



