MARCH. . 185 



oats on the half acre were not thrashed separately, 

 but judged by those who viewed them, to be much 

 inferior to the rest. About half the field has been 

 since dressed with earth and road sullage, and once 

 dunged slightly. It is remarkable, that in three 

 years crested dog's tail, an excellent grass, common 

 in the country, the seed heavy, and which, there- 

 fore, could not be carried by the wind, began to 

 appear, and has been increasing ever since. There 

 is at present no perceptible difference between the 

 part burnt and the other not burnt; if any thing, 

 the burnt is best. These two experiments prove, 

 if any thing can, that paring and burning does 

 not lessen the soil, in its most excessive upplicu- 

 cation, and that it works a very great improvement 

 on loams. 



Sand. Hitt, a practiser of .this husbandry, says, 

 that it improves sandy soils as much as any other; 

 and I have seen some fields thus worked in Suf- 

 folk and in Cambridgeshire, and improved by it, 

 though under a course of crops by no means ad- 

 missible. There is not the least reason, from ana- 

 logy, to doubt the effect on this, or in indeed on 

 any soil> If the soil, however, is a very loose sand, 

 nnd not well covered with turf, it does not burn 

 well, the sand impeding the operation of the fire : 

 this has been experienced in Bedfordshire. 



.Chalk. Here we have a much more ample field 

 of experience, for it has been, and is the common 

 method of breaking up downs in every part of Eng- 

 land. On the Cotles'vold hills, in Gloucestershire, 



1t 



