97 



confounded with that of burning cUiy for the purpose of ma- 

 nure, and of rendering the soil friable and pervious to the 

 roots of plants." The mode of burning described is the same 

 as practised by Mr. H., — that of sIoay, mouldering fires, — but 

 the burning itself seems to have taken place on the land, 



Mr. C. quotes the following, which certainly seems a re- 

 markable statement : ' ' An acre of land from which the turf 

 was taken in the common mode of paring and burning, ap- 

 peared to have produced an average of 2' 60 bushels of ashes, 

 which, at their mean weight of 65 pounds to a bushel, when 

 dry, would give 172,900 pounds, or rathei' more than 77 tons 

 per acre." 



We hardly know how to estimate the quantity of ashes pro- 

 duced on Mr. Horton's land from the information oriven. He 

 says twenty loads. Without knowing the size of the loads, 

 we shall estimate that each load contained fifty bushels, which 

 would give a total of 1000 bushels, and at 25 cents a bushel, 

 would be worth $250, 



Mr. C. also goes on to state what has a very important 

 bearing on the subject, that "it has been said that the de- 

 struction of vegetable matter in the soil must necessarily im- 

 poverish it ; and that it Avould be much better to bury this 

 vegetal )le matter, where, by a slow decomposition, it might 

 serve to afford nutriment to the crops to be cultivated. There 

 are, in the first place, some mechanical difficulties in the case. 

 Where a piece of heath land, covered with coarse grasses and 

 low bushes of furze or fern, is ploughed, it is extremely diffi- 

 cult, even by the most severe process of pressing or rolling, 

 to make it lie flat, and so consolidate it that it can be culti- 

 vated to advantage. This is stated to have been the fact, on 

 an extensive heath in Surrey, where cultivation, under the 

 practice of paring and burning, succeeded well, out very ill 

 where the land was only turned over without paring and burn- 



ing." 



"There are certainly strong reasons, in such cases, for par- 



