376 



FARMERS' REGISTER— DUTCH ASHES, &c. 



stances to be found in it must be very great, and in 

 different proportions. 



" In every part of the interior of Flanders these 

 Dutch ashes are used for clover, and with a success 

 hardly to be credited. They are brought to Brus- 

 sels by a canal, and thence are conveyed, by land 

 carriage, to the distance of from 50 to even 100 

 miles. Wherever they arc used, there is no com- 

 plaint of any deficiency either in the crop of clover, 

 or of the wheat afterwards. Some instances of' 

 their success, it may be proper to sjjecify. 



" Mr. Mosselman, a great farmer at Chenoi, near 

 Wavre, assured me, that without the ashes of Hol- 

 land, he could neither have a crop of clover, nor of 

 wheat afterwards ; and that wheat, after clover, 

 manured loith Dutch ashes, was the most certain 

 crop of any. 



" Mr. Hanelot, near Fleurus, declares, that he 

 sows upon clover twenty-five cuvelles of Dutch 

 ashes per hectare; (about nineteen bushels per 

 English acre;) that no manure, though it were to 

 be given in greater quantities, and at more expense, 

 would equalit in strength ; that after sowing these 

 Dutch ashes, they always have two great crops of 

 clover, besides pasturage afterwards ; and that the 

 next crop of wheat is not more injured by insects, 

 than the other crops of that grain. 



" Observing a great heap of dung in a field near 

 Baulet, I inquired of Mr. Grossje-an, the farmer 

 who accompanied me, what it was intended for. 

 He answered, that it belonged to another farmer, 

 who thought to render the use of Dutch ashes un- 

 necessary, by spreading a great quantity of dung 

 on his young clover during the winter, and collect- 

 ing it in the spring to carry to another field ; but 

 there was no comparison between the clover where 

 the Dutch ashes had been applied, and the field 

 that had been covered with the dung, the former 

 being much forwarder, and in every respect supe- 

 rior. 



" Mr. Vandoorslair, in the Pays de Waes, in- 

 forms me, that this manure is used with great bene- 

 fit where clover is kept for a second year, whether 

 for cutting or pasture, and its advantage, where 

 that practice is adopted, would be incalculable, as 

 the second year's crop is of little value at pre- 

 sent. 



"It is unnecessary, however, to dwell more on 

 individual opinions, when eighty-three practical 

 farmers in the neighborhood of Fleurus, have 

 joined in a public declaration to the following 

 effect : — " All our farmers know by experience, 

 that when clover is not manured at the rate of 

 twenty-five cuvelles of Dutch ashes par bonnier, 

 the following crop (of wheat) is very bad, not- 

 withstanding any culture that can be given to the 

 soil, whereas they always have an excellent crop 

 of wheat after clover, and, doubtless, in proportion 

 to the quantity of manure above mentioned being- 

 used." The farmers who have subscribed this 

 declaration, must have been deeply impressed with 

 the importance of these ashes; for, in general, 

 they must have brought them from forty to fifty 

 miles, by land carriage, from wharfs on the canal 

 of Brussels. 



" These circumstances astonished me more than 

 any thing I had met with in the whole course of 

 my excursion. The advantages of Dutch ashes 

 have been long known on the continent; and 

 though it would be as easy to import them into 

 England or Scotland, as into Flanders, it does not 



appear to have been ever thought of, or tried ; and 

 on my return to England, on the 22nd of April 

 last, the crops of clover in Kent seemed to me 

 from a fortnight to three weeks behind, in regard 

 to maturity, and greatly inferior in point of pro- 

 duce, to those I had seen on the continent ; which, 

 I am persuaded, was entirely owing to the use of 

 these ashes. 



" Upon inquiring info the price of these ashes at 

 Brussels, I found it was one franc fifty centimes 

 par hectolitre, (about 5d. sterling per bushel ;) 

 that it required 16 hectolitres (about 47 bushels) 

 par hectare, containing rather less than three 

 English acres. The quantity therefore is about 

 eighteen or nineteen bushels per English acre, or 

 from 7s. to 8s. besides the carriage- 



" Mr. Ferrier, the British Consul at Rotterdam, 

 (whose ready attention to my inquiries I acknow- 

 ledge with much pleasure,) informs me, that the 

 price at Rotterdam was seven stivers per 100 

 pounds, Dutch weight; and including all expenses, 

 that it would come to about twelve stivers, which, 

 at the present rate of exchange, is about Is. 4d. 

 per 100 pounds weight, delivered free on board. 

 The freight per ton of 2240 pounds, would be 

 about 21. to London, and perhaps about 21. 10s. to 

 Leith. The expense, on the whole, would not pro- 

 bably exceed from 10s. to 15s. per acre, freight 

 included.* 



"Dutch ashes are used for various purposes, be- 

 sides as a manure for clover. Some farmers spread 

 them on the ground where they have sown turnips 

 or carrots, passing a harrow over the surface, and 

 thus destroying the insects which injure those 

 plants. These ashes are likewise sown on rye in 

 October, on wheat and pasture lands as well as on 

 clover in April, and on oats and beans in May. 

 They are of great use to peas ; but they render 

 the grain harder, and nwre difficult to boil. In 

 gardens they are used with much advantage, scat- 

 tered over the surface, after the land is sown and 

 raked. They are also good for hops, a handful 

 being given to each heap. When applied to grain 

 they promote its early growth, but are principally 

 useful by iiKreasing the quantity. They are in 

 general sown by the hand, like grain; but care 

 must be taken to leave no part of the surface with- 

 out its just proportion. A still hazy morning is' 

 preferred for this operation, lest the wind should 

 blow them away, and prevent their fixing on the 

 soil and plants in the manner intended. The 

 change which these ashes cause on the clover, is 

 perceptible in the course of a week, and it is known, 

 from repeated experiments, that without this pre- 

 caution, vegetation has suffered so sensibly, that in 

 some cases a crop of clover has been lost, and in 

 others, has become less abundant. Among the 

 other advantages of these ashes, it is said, that they 

 not only bring with them the principles of fertility, 

 but that they are also well calculated to hinder the 

 multiplication of all sorts of worms and insects, 

 (hence they may prevent the ravages of the turnip- 

 fly or beetle,) to destroy the mosses and lichens,, 

 which injure our pasture lands, and to protect the 

 wheat from several maladies to which it is exposed, 

 in particular the nielle or mildew ; and perhaps the 

 exemption of Flanders in so great a degree from 



* The expense would now be less than when the 

 above was written. P- P- 



