On Manures. 231 



experiments on a great scale, with the real Dutch ashes, 

 ought first to be tried, to ascertain their efficacy in this 

 country. They are now subject to a very heavy duty, which 

 ought certainly to be taken off. 



Peat-ashes, burnt in the Berkshire mode, are an excel- 

 lent manure for turnips. If as many ashes are strewed, in 

 the furrow of a drill, as are sufficient to cover the surface, 

 the crop will be abundant; and if the turnips are afterwards 

 eaten off by the sheep, the land, in the opinion of some, will 

 be as much enriched, as if the turnips were produced by 

 farm-yard manure. 



Kelp, or the ashes of sea-weeds, has of late been strong- 

 ly recommended as a useful manure, and the experiments 

 which have been tried, have, on the whole, been successful. 

 Immense quantities of this substance might be obtained, 

 from the western and northern islands of Scotland, and from 

 various parts, both of England and of Ireland. Indeed the 

 supply is almost inexhaustible; the manufacturing of it 

 would employ a number of labourers in all those places 

 where these weeds are found, and would insure their com- 

 fortable subsistence (* tf 3 ). 



The ashes of coleseed straw, or haulm, and of common 

 straw, or stubble, have been made use of for turnips and 

 other crops, with success. Indeed it is now ascertained, 

 that the burning of straw, stubble, or any other combustible 

 material on the surface of the ground, after it is prepared 

 for turnips, but before the seed is sown, is the most effectual 

 mode hitherto suggested, of destroying the fly, and preserv- 

 ing the crop from their attacks. In France, more especial- 

 ly near Angers, and in Brittany, bushes are burnt, with 

 advantage to the succeeding crop ( z64 ). 



10. Dry Vegetable Substances. It has been found in Dum- 

 friesshire, that the husks or shells of oats, form an excel- 

 lent manure ; fresh vegetable matter, as saw-dust, when 

 simply reduced by mechanical division, is of use by itself; 

 but is much improved, by a mixture with other substances, 

 as the refuse of butchers' markets, urine, &c. 



5. Miscellaneous Articles of Manure. 



This head contains, Salt ; Soot ; Refuse of various 

 manufactures ; Refuse of coal-mines ; And the refuse of 

 lime-kilns applied as a top-dressing to grass lands. 



