1S36.J 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



471 



Upon strong loams — 



For wheat Irom 40 to 45 bush. 



Seeds and pasture 20 to 30 



Upon light loams — 



For wheat, barley, and turnips 30 to 35 



Seeds and pasture 20 to 25 



Upon chaliiy loams — 



For wheat, barley, and turnips 30 to 40 



Seeds and pasture 20 to 25 



but the latter is, upon all soils, the more common 

 quantity. 



When labor is at 12s. a week, the price of sow- 

 ing is generally one-half-penny the bushel, some- 

 times with beer ; and at this rate an active man 

 has been known to earn from 3s. to 4s. per day, 

 sowing from 70 to 80 bushels, and upwards. The 

 soot being previously brought in sacks, the sower 

 fills his scuttle, and scatters the dust by putting 

 his hand fully expanded into it, and spreads it — 

 generally walking backwards — as wide as possi- 

 ble. The operation is however more generally 

 performed by chimney-sweepers than by the 

 farmers people ; for, let the air be ever so still — 

 which is, indeed, the onl}^ proper time in which to 

 spread it — the lii^hter particles will hangin the air, 

 and settle about the sower in a manner that will 

 not only soon make him as black as itself, but, en- 

 tering his eyes, nose, and ears, causes extreme 

 pain through i(s causticity. Those who are not 

 accustomed to it should, therefore, cover their 

 lace with a piece of gauze, as if they were work- 

 ing among hot lime. 



Soot is usually sown upon wheat if it be weak, 

 or if the yellow cast which it sometimes assumes 

 in the spring shows it to be sickly ; in which cases 

 it will improve the color and strength of the plant, 

 which will then filler out and cover the ground 

 Avith a great number of new shoots. Upon bar- 

 ley it is sometimes sown whh the crop, and other 

 times a fortnight after ; but it should never be de- 

 ferred later, and if possible, should be spread in 

 April. It is also occasionally applied as a top- 

 dressing to clover and other artificial grasses, 

 though it seems better suited to rye-grass than to 

 any other species, for, when both that and clover 

 have been sown together, and that the field has 

 been dressed with soot, the former has become so 

 rank as to completely overtop the latter. One of 

 its most common uses among farmers is, however, 

 for turnips, either sown along with the seed, or, 

 more usually, immediately after the plants appear, 

 as It is so acrid and bitter as to become injurious 

 or disgusting to insects, and has therefore been 

 found very efficacious in preventing the ravages of 

 of the fly, as well as that of the wireworm. The 

 best time to sow it is on the evening of a cloudy 

 but calm day, when there is an appearance of 

 rain; for if the weather be hot and dry, its volatile 

 parts are dispelled, and it becomes of no service to 

 the crop. 



Some farmers recommend its being mixed with 

 an equal quantity of quick-lime, and double that 

 quantity (of those two combined) of fresh loam ; 

 tho soot and loam to be regularly amalgamated 

 by passing the latter through an upright screen, 

 as practised by bricklayers, by which means the 

 lumps will be either kept back, or broken and 

 passed through it ; and after remaining in this 

 state during almost a fortnight, the lime should 

 then be added by turning the heap and mixing all 



together; after which it will, in a few weeks more, 

 become fit for use. The materials thus enumer- 

 ated are all good, and doubtless will prove ser- 

 viceable to those soils to which they are adajjted ; 

 but we are not sufficiently acquainted with the ex- 

 periments which have been made upon this species 

 of comf)Ost to speak of its efl'ects with any degree 

 of certainty ; and Ave doubt whether the most ben- 

 eficial mode of applying the soot will not be still 

 found to consist in spreading it in a dry state, 

 without any preparation, as a top-dressing. As 

 an application in that mode, to such crops as we 

 have mentioned, it will be found useful, Avhen 

 used in moderation, upon soils of every kind ; but 

 if intended to be applied as an improvement to 

 the laud, it will be of very little benefit after the 

 first year. 



Soapcrs'' fVaste. 



The use of the ashes produced by the manu- 

 facture of soap — the refuse of which is termed 

 soapers' waste — has been much recommended aa 

 manure; and it has been supposed that its effica- 

 cy depends on the proportion of saline matter 

 which it contains: this, however, is very minute, 

 and depends upon the sort of alkali employed by 

 the soap-boiler, two kinds of which are chiefly 

 used namely, kelp and barilla — which are much 

 more effective than that which is the refijse of 

 common pot ash. These substances are both de- 

 rived from the calcination of marine plants, of 

 which the sea fiarnishes an abundance in a pecu- 

 liar nature of weed, particul'arly on the western 

 coasts of Scotland and Ireland, where many thou- 

 sands of the poor inhabitants obtain their chief 

 support from securing and burning the former. 

 The species known as barilla is, however, chiefly 

 procured from the island of Teneriile and some 

 parts of the Mediterranean ; the difli^rence be- 

 tween the two, in 100 j:)arts, having been shown, 

 by the anal^'sis of Sir Humphrj' Davy, to be as 

 follows : — 



Carbonate of lime 

 Quick lime 



Gypsum 

 Common salt 

 Carbonate of soda 



Barilla. 



,^P C Total of"caIcareous ' 

 jc < matter exclusive ' 

 K of gypsum 



Kelp. 



91 

 5 



u 



Calcareous matter, such as that for barilla 94 

 Gypsum 3 



Soluble saline matter and carbonate of soda 

 of nearly the same proportion. 



The alkali contained in kelp, liowever, often 

 differs from 1 to 6 per cent. ; but the manufacture 

 has been almost entirely abandoned since the late 

 duty on barilla imported from abroad has been re- 

 cently taken off', and as it is not probable that it 

 will be renewed in this country for the mere pur- 

 poses of manure, the latter is the only quality that 

 need be considered.* 



* On the deplorable condition to which a numerous 

 class of our peasantry fias been reduced through this 

 act of the legislature, it is not our intention to oifer 

 any remark ; but vfe may suggest, tfiat it becomes a 

 matter fo much importance to ascei'tain whether the 



