254 



On the benefit of laying Land to Grass. 



Vol. VII. 



in a state of youthful vegetation, and in con- 

 sequence, defeat his object in a greater or 

 less degree, however rich the land might 

 be — to obviate this evil, nothing seems to 

 present so effectual a remedy, as the paring 

 and burning of the turf, which destroys, in 

 the most certain and expeditious manner, 

 all insects, eggs and worms, contained there- 

 in. Again, if the land, during a state of 

 pasture, has been neglected, and the seeds 

 of weeds have been suffered to fall, the fire 

 destroys them all at a blow. Also, very old 

 and neglected lays are frequently filled with 

 the strong, woody roots of large weeds and 

 small shrubs, that from their solid nature, 

 require years of common cultivation to de- 

 compose ; and with land that is poor, the 

 balance of affinities is too strong to decay, 

 readily, the tufts of grass and weeds, even 

 when turned under by the plough ; which, 

 therefore, with the woody roots, roll about 

 under the plough and harrow for years, 

 preventing the grain from growing health- 

 ily, by the too great hollowness they occa 

 sion to the soil ; at the same time, existing, 

 for the first year or two, a mass of rubbish, 

 of half-alive, half-dead turf, which not only 

 robs the grain of its nutriment, but keeps in 

 existence the insects, grubs and worms, and 

 exhibits to the eye after harvest, a worse 

 surface for the plough to manage, than be- 

 fore it was broken up. To remove all these 

 evils, fire has been resorted to, as the best 

 and most expeditious agent; and thus far, 

 the importance of paring and burning all 

 very old and sour lays, is manifest. But in 

 the operation, experience confirms the pro- 

 priety of not carrying the heat of the fire to 

 too high a temperature; and the criterion is, 

 when the soil that is calcined with the turf, 

 is still black; for it is admitted on all hands, 

 that to carry the heat so far as to burn the 

 earth red, is a loss, not only in the combus- 

 tible materials, but injurious to the soil burnt, 

 especially if that be a clay, which will thus 

 be rendered but little better than brick or 

 stone. With roots, turf, &c, the true ob- 

 ject is, just to break down their texture by 

 gentle combustion, and to avoid dissipating 

 their gaseous materials, any more than is 

 necessary to maintain the fire ; at the same 

 time, keeping the heaps covered by throw- 

 ing on, with judgment, a portion of the ad- 

 joining soil, so as to arrest and combine 

 with, as large a portion as possible of the 

 soot, or whatever else arises in the form of 

 gas with the smoke. By this means are 

 formed dry, powdery materials, containing 

 soot, wood-ashes, charcoal and blackened 

 earth, which together form an excellent 

 manure for all fresh brokcn-up lands. And 

 the question is, how do the ashes operate as 



a manure? to which it is replied, these ashes, 

 having had their old affinities overturned by 

 the fire, and their new ones, which are most 

 active when applied in their fresh state to 

 the soil, act in part as lime and in part as 

 vegetable manure; and with judicious after- 

 tillage, a strong fermentation takes place; 

 and then the fertilizing process commences. 

 The application of hot ashes, from the ef- 

 fect of paring and burning, and turning them 

 in with the plough, is of great importance; 

 even the best lands, when first broken up, 

 from a state of pasture of only a few years 

 standing, are found extremely altered, as re- 

 spects their fitness to bear at once delicate 

 vegetables; while the poorer lands must be 

 in a worse condition still. Land of any de- 

 scription which has been unexposed to the 

 sun, air, rains and frosts, for a few years, 

 becomes raw, harsh, and cloddy; with all its 

 former silkiness or delicate tenacity, or easy 

 yielding to the pressure of the foot, gone. 

 If a piece of earth be taken from under the 

 turf and examined in the hand, it will be 

 found porous, from the road-ways of worms, 

 insects, and decayed roots; cold, raw, and 

 hard, and bound together by the living fibres 

 of the late grass ; having its affinities in so 

 strong a state of balance, in consequence of 

 the same species of plants growing for a 

 series of years on the same surface, that a 

 clod of it, which is little better than a stone, 

 until thoroughly reduced by the plough and 

 exposure to the seasons, will resist decay 

 and change for a great length of time : and 

 whilst the land is in this state, it is impossi- 

 ble for it to afford nourishment to the roots 

 of plants requiring nice cultivation; because, 

 if they are sown upon it, it is too hard to 

 admit the tender infant roots within those 

 parts that have not been aheady searched 

 and exhausted by the roots of grass; and 

 where they have been so traversed by them, 

 they have effected so strong a balance, that 

 the roots of the young and delicate fresh 

 plants, are able to obtain only the smallest 

 portion of nourishment; and also, the former 

 roots, rains and worms, having left the soil 

 hollow and porous, the succeeding rains, in- 

 stead of being absorbed, and thus retained 

 by the soil, do, in a great measure, escape 

 through the old channels; and these water- 

 courses presenting only old saturated sur- 

 faces to the contact of fresh showers, arrest 

 no new fertility, and what fresh air may 

 gain access to the interior, by following the 

 vanishing water through the soil, only meets 

 with the same old chambers, whose side3 

 have long since been saturated. From these 

 circumstances, every fertilizing shower that 

 falls, may bo said to be lost; little or no fer- 

 mentation takes place after it ; or there is a 



