ON MANURES. 127 



small quantity of ashes that are produced, and its chief value 

 , must be supposed to consist in the superior degree of clean- 

 ness which it imparts to the land. 



Soot. — The soot produced by different species of fuel is 

 subject to the same difference in quality as those substances 

 from which it is derived. The soot accurately collected from 

 fires burnt in the house is generally good, while that com- 

 monly sold by the chimney-sweepers is in general mixed with 

 dust and other trash, which lessens its power. 



Soot is usually sown upon wheat if it be weak, or if the 

 yellow cast which it sometimes assumes in the spring shows 

 it to be sickly; in which cases it will improve the colour and 

 .' trength of the plant, which will then tiller out and cover the 

 ground with a great number of new shoots. Upon barley it is 

 sometimes sown with the crop, and at other times a fortnight 

 after ; but it should never be deferred later, and if possible, 

 should be spread in April. It is also occasionly applied as a 

 top-dressing to clover and other artificial grasses, though it 

 seems better suited to rye-grass than to any other species, for, 

 when both that and clover have been sown together, and that 

 the field has been dressed with soot, the former has become so 

 rank as to completely overtop the latter. One of its most 

 common uses among farmers is, however, for turnips, either 

 sown along with the seed, or more usually, immediately after 

 the plants appear, as it is so acrid and bitter as to become 

 injurious or disgusting to insects, and has therefore been found 

 very etficacious in preventing the ravages of the fly, as well 

 as that of the wire- worm. The best time to sow it is on the 

 evening of a cloudy but calm day, when there is an appearance 

 of rain, for if the weather be hot and dry, its volatile parts are 

 dispelled, and it becomes of no service to the crop. 



Some farmers recommend its being mixed with an equal 

 quantity of quicklime, and double that quantity (of those two 

 combined) of fresh loam ; the soot and loam to be regularly 

 amalgamated by passing the latter through an upright screen, 

 as practised by bricklayers, by which means the lumps will be 

 either kept back, or broken and passed through it; and after 

 remaining in this state during almost a fortnight, the lime 

 should then be added by turning the heap and mixing all 

 together; after which it will, in a few weeks more, become fit 

 for use. The materials thus enumerated are all good, and 

 doubtless will prove serviceable to those soils to which they 

 are adapted ; but we are not sufficiently acquainted with the 

 L 



