PARING AND BURNING. 



pense of vegetable matter, which, by 

 its decomposition in llio earth, niiglit 

 also have afforded food for vegeta- 

 tion. If the earth which is bnrned 

 with the sods is of a cold, clayey na- 

 ture, the fire will change it mlo a 

 kind of sand, or brickdust, which is 

 insoluble in water, and corrects the 

 too great tenacity of clays, by con- 

 verting them more or less into loams. 

 This is so well known, that clay 

 is often dug out of the subsoil to be 

 partially burned. On stiff clay soils, 

 therefore, there is a double advan- 

 tage in paring and burning, that of the 

 vegetable ashes and of the burned 

 clay. When the fire is so managed 

 that the vegetable matter is only par- 

 tially burned, the oily and inflamma- 

 ble portions being converted into va- 

 pour by the fire without being de- 

 stroyed, and absorbed by the earth, 

 the effect produced is only to impreg- 

 nate the earth with minute particles 

 of matter, readily converted into the 

 constituent parts of vegetables. The 

 earth is the mere recipient of these 

 particles, which are held in its pores, 

 as water is in a sponge, ready to be 

 let loose to any substance which has 

 the power of attracting them. The 

 moisture, which the dry earth will 

 also absorb from the atmosphere if 

 no rain should fall, is retained and 

 increased by the effect of the salts 

 with which it is impregnated. 



" The principal objection to burn- 

 ing is, that it destroys a great portion 

 of vegetable matter. But this is a 

 fact to be proved, and is, perhaps, 

 rashly taken for granted. It appears 

 that a clay soil may be pared and 

 burned without its real substance be- 

 ing diminished ; and if its texture is 

 improved, it becomes more fertile by 

 the operation. 



" Many experienced farmers pare 

 and burn the soil on the edges of their 

 ditches and on the banks on which 

 the hedges grow, because they there- 

 by exterminate many rank weeds ; 

 and the burned earth mixed with 

 farm-yard dung makes an admirable 

 compost. Here the burned earth acts 

 as an absorbent, and no doubt attracts 

 many of the volatile parts of the ma- 



nure, which are produced by the de- 

 composition of animal and vegetable 

 matter in it. Paring and burning, 

 therefore, should be joined to ma- 

 nuring, if a powerful and immediate 

 effect is desired without exhausting 

 the soil ; and, in tiiis case, we do not 

 hesitate to recommend it on all cold 

 clay soils, where rank weeds are apt 

 to spring up, and coarse grasses take 

 the place of the better sorts which 

 have been sown. The proper time 

 to pare and burn is evidently after 

 the land has lain in grass for several 

 years, and is broken up for tillage. 

 The surface should be pared thin ; 

 about two inches is the extreme 

 thickness allowable for the sod if the 

 soil is very stiff and poor, and as thin 

 as possible in a better soil. The sods 

 should be moderately dried, and then 

 arranged into small heaps with a hol- 

 low in the middle to hold heath or 

 bushes to kindle the fire. When it 

 has fairly established itself, all the 

 apertures should be carefully closed. 

 Wherever any smoke breaks out, a 

 fresh sod should be immediately put 

 over it; a heap containing a small 

 cart-load of sods should be smoulder- 

 ing for several days without going 

 out, even if it rains hard. If the fire 

 is too brisk, the earth will form hard 

 lumps, and even vitrify ; but other- 

 wise it comes out in the form of a 

 fine powder, in which evident marks 

 of charcoal appear. If this is of a 

 fine red colour, it is a good sign ; for 

 the iron in the earth has been con- 

 verted into a peroxide, which is per- 

 fectly innocent in its effects on ve- 

 getation, whereas all the saline im- 

 pregnations of iron are more or less 

 hurtful. It is better to burn the sods 

 in large than in small heaps ; for the 

 more the fire is smothered the better 

 the ashes. 



" So great a quantity of ashes is 

 sometimes produced as to admit of a 

 portion being carried off on grass 

 land, or used to manure another field. 

 As this is evidently robbing the field 

 where the operation has been carried 

 on, an equivalent quantity of manure 

 should be brought in exchange. Per- 

 I haps the most advantageous mode of 



