372 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



On the Value of, and Difftrent Modes of prepar- 

 ing, Burnt Earlhfnr Manure. 

 [From Essays oa Practical Husbandry, by Blwarils 



Burroughs, Esq. Essay Second. Oil Manures auil 



their application.] 



[Concluded from page 347.] 



It is evident that after (he kindling is burned 

 out, nothing remains but its effect, which is 

 simply (hat of heating the sods immediately 

 near it, and retaining a great body of heat in a 

 confined space. By the heat being thus smoth- 

 ered, no reduction of the innate properties of 

 the soil can take place, nor any of its gasses 

 dissipate; neither is it much reduced in quanti- 

 ty; it is merely dried up, or torrefied, by the 

 process, and made more capable of imbibing, 

 when blended with the natural soil, those pro- 

 perties of the atmosphere conducive to vegeta- 

 tion. 



Having stated the principle on which earth 

 prepared in the foregoing manner, is converted 

 into manure I shall make such general observa- 

 tions on the subject as may elucidate the mat- 

 ter more satisfactorily to tlie practical farmer, 

 »nd to convince him that it is not formed on 

 casual experiment originating in fancy, but 

 founded on a system that has for many years 

 existed, but which has only been lately brought 

 to scientific perfection. 



In the northern counties in Ireland, the burn- 

 ing of earth was very general ; this practice is 

 supposed to have originated from a want of ma- 

 nure, ilax being a great exhauster of the soil, 

 and not producing any vegetabte substance 

 which would ultimately benefit after yielding 

 that croj — I understand, from several intelligent 

 persons who have seen this manure applied on 

 different farms that it made the most inferior 

 soils produce good crops of potatoes, corn and 

 flax : but as I have not been an eve wifness of 

 flieir mode of preparing it, I must be satisfied 

 to state the result of the experience which I 

 iiave had tor some years, both as regards its 

 preparation, and in applying it on different soils. 



1 have already observed, that no part of a 

 farm is so well calculated for this practice as 

 headlands: — l?t, From the soil being deeper on 

 them than on other parts of the field : and, 2dly. 

 From the benefit which the land will receive 

 by cutting away such rising headlands, and giv- 

 ing it a gradual slope to the dykes or water-cuts. 

 If such headlands can be found convenient to 

 fallow the lands, there will, consequently be 

 much expense saved in carting out the manure ; 

 and even the brows or backs of ditches could 

 be conveited to this purpose without injurv to 

 tlie fences, and in many instances, would effect 

 a general benefit. But should any of those 

 resources for supplying sods fail, or (hat no 

 subsoil calculated for burning can be found on 

 the land, the surface of grass lands, which have 

 a good depth of strong soil, may be advantage- 

 ously devoted to this purpose. 



It may be said, in objection to this practice, 

 that the injury apiece of grass land so stripped 

 would suffer, would be much more than any 

 benefit that the manure produced from it could 

 possibly be, for that the land so stripped could 

 never be beneficial afterwards in any way what- 

 ever. 1 shall, therefore, state some experi- 

 ments which I made on this point, and leave the 

 reader to judge of the ultimate results. 



First — I Stripped about twenty perches of 

 gr.ass land; the upper &oil a loamy sand, the 



subsoil a poor yellow clay, very weak and fria- 

 ble. The upper soil was about twelve inches 

 deep, and near ten inches of this was cut away 

 in sods for kilns and burning ; so that not more 

 than tu'O inches of the surface soil was left 

 after the manure produced was carted away. 

 The twenty perches were then ploughed, and 

 manured with a well prepared compost heap, 

 and a light dressing of the burned eaith which 

 it had produced, ploughed once, and then plant- 

 ed with potatoes : the crop proved of good 

 quality and productive. — The second year it 

 was planted with potatoes in like manner, and 

 produced as well as the adjoining part of the 

 field off which the sward had not been car- 

 ried. 



Second — I practised this tlie following year 

 on a similar piece of land ; and the result was 

 equally encouraging, indeed more so for the 

 potatoes were better where the sward was tak- 

 en in the adjacent part of the field which was 

 ploughed out of the ley, and manured in the 

 same manner. 



I do not, however, mean to assert, that there 

 are not lands which, by such practices, are not 

 in some degree deteriorated ; but certainly the 

 deterioration they suffer is not so serious as is 

 generally supposed; and 1 have no doubt, was 

 the land so treated to be well cultivated and 

 manured for three years successively, that it 

 would be effectually restored to its primitive 

 state. Now, when we recollect the quantity of 

 valuable manure which is obtained from so small 

 a surface, surely it cannot be considered as bad 

 management to cre.-.te a temporary injury if 

 such it should be, to obtain a permanent and ex- 

 tensive benefit. 



Off the twenty perches as already stated, I 

 had as much manure as dressed two acres abun- 

 <l...iiilj' foi potatoes', and which the following 

 year produced better wheat than was obtained 

 off similar soil by the farm-yard dung. I also 

 (ried it for turnips the same year, and never 

 had a more even or a better crop. Suppose 

 then the staple of the twenty perches to have 

 been reduced ; query, can it not be brought to 

 a sufficient depth by a few deep ploughings and 

 judicious manuring, the expense of which would 

 be but trifling on so small a surface ? 



It is well ascertained, that soil of any descrip- 

 tion can be made fertile by exposure to the at- 

 mosphere ; and the appearance of soil brought 

 up by deep ploughings, should never deter the 

 cultivator from trying his skill in this way. 

 Every day's experience shows us, that land 

 which has been dug two spits deep becomes 

 more fertile afterwards, although the good soil, 

 as it is termed is turned down, and the subsoil 

 brought up: this must evidently convince us, 

 that much is yet to be learned in the science of 

 promoting vegetation. 



1 shall now make some observations on the 

 value of this manure in general, and show its 

 great advantage as a means of extending profit- 

 able cultivation, and of promoting the comforts 

 of the small farmer and cotter. 



The number of acres which are fiiUowed 

 throughout Great Britain and Ireland in conse- 

 quence of the want of manure, causes a serious 

 reduction in land produce for the consumption 

 of the population of those countries ; and this 

 evil must increase progressively as tillage 

 is extended, unless a sufficient means of renova- 

 ting Ihoee lands under cultivation increase in 



the same proportion. The system so generally 

 practiced in Ireland of stimulating the soil by 

 an application of lime, and giving it rest by oc- 

 casionally fallowing, has been at length lauDdni 

 to be un]irofitable, and a practice which ulti. 

 raately, on light soils especially, reduce.^ them 

 to barrenness. When lands are reduced to this 

 state, it is no easy matter to treat them judi- 

 ciously ; lor although they may produce light 

 crops of some artificial grasses suited to their 

 condition, yet the returns from these must be 

 very deficient, and must, consequently be a | 

 drawback from the general profit of a farm.— 

 The discovery, therefore, of a cheap, valuable 

 manure, must be considered as a matter essen- 

 tial to the interest of agriculture ; and thai 

 which is the most easily obtained and the most 

 efficacious must be considered as the most bene 

 ficial. 



The expense of burning clay in the kiln here 

 described, is from threepence to iburjience an 

 Irish load, or about forty or fifty shillings an 

 Irish acre. It is, however, necessary to state 

 that when the sods of light soils are burned, 

 the manure produced is not calculated to apply 

 on similar soils, but should be put on tenacious 

 clays, moors, and other soils dissimilar to that 

 prepared for this purpose. But strong clay 

 put through this process becomes excellent ma- 

 nure for soils of the same sort, its property is 

 totally altered by lorrefaction. Thus it will bei 

 more advantageous to obtain the strong soil, 

 if possible for preparing this kind of manure. 



I have found crops to be much benefitted bj' 

 mixing peat mould with burned earth produced 

 from light soil, in the proportion of one third 

 of the former, and two thirds of the latter sub- 

 stance, especially should it be necessary to ap- 

 ply it afterwards on sandy soils. I tried an ex- 

 periment on two acres of land last year to as- 

 certain this fully : — one acre was planted with 

 potatoes with the burned earth unmixed with 

 any other substance — the other had the peat 

 and the earth; and the result proved the supe- 

 riority of (he two substances blended. The 

 peat mould was dug through the earth as soon 

 as the kilns were fit to break down, and left in 

 this slate for two months ; the heap was then 

 turned, at which time the peat was highly fer- 

 mented from the heat of the ashes and burned 

 earth. I conceived that the vegetable matter 

 contained in the peat, and its tendency to retain 

 moisture, acted as an alterative on the soil to 

 which it was applied, and which being a barren 

 sand, was deficient of vegetable matter, and in- 

 capable of retaining moisture. 



Burned earth may be depended on as a ma- 

 nure fit to produce abundant turnip crops ofw- 

 ery description, on a variety of soils ; even the 

 Swedes, so difficult to grow on light soils, will 

 prove a more luxuriant crop with this manurej 

 than with farm yard dung, and are less liable 

 to be cut off by the fly. For those crops, how- 

 ever, it should be well prepared by breaking 

 down the kilns, as soon as they are suffi- 

 ciently burned, and by pulverizing the sods, and 

 mixing the ashes through them : and this should 

 be repeated a third or fourth time if necessary. 



It may be supposed by some, that any crop 

 sown on this manure would be precarious in a 

 dry season, not containing, as they may con- 

 ceive, any enriching quality or properties to 

 preserve moisture. But this is by no means the 

 case ; for it will be found, that an application of 



