ON MANURES. jgg 



which lie leng-thwise upon the ground : thus forming- a sort of 

 portable furnace, about four feet long, so light that a boy can 

 carry it; and when turf is laid upon it, an opening is left 

 through the hoops, which increases the current of the air. 



When the land is much covered with heath and furze, the 

 operation of paring, wiiich turns the sod upside down, keeps 

 the turf raised so tar above the ground that, in fine weather, 

 it readily dries sufficiently, and is fi-equently burnt in that 

 state. This is a saving of trouble and expense ; the ashes are 

 also thereby spread more equably, and the fire operates over 

 the entire surface of the soil, which, if anything is to be 

 attributed to the effect of heat, may be benefited by this mode 

 of application. Thus, in a course of experiments made upon 

 a farm in the West Riding of Yorkshire, the sward was burnt 

 all over the surface in the state in which it was left when 

 pared ; when, without any further culture, or seed, a sponta- 

 neous plant of luxuriant grass sprang up, and afterwards con- 

 tinued permanent, upon black peat-earth, which formerly pro- 

 duced nothing but heath and ling-. Similar experiments have 

 been since tried with equal success, by only adding the seeds 

 of white clover, trefoil, rye-grass, rib-grass, nonsuch, or any 

 of the other grasses commonly intended to produce pasture, 

 and merely harrowing them in without any ploughing". 



The improvement of the bogs by the operation cf paring 

 and burning in Ireland, is thus described by Mr. Curwen: 

 'Round a space from six to ten feet in diameter, a trench of a 

 foot deep, and of the same width, is dug, the soil from which 

 is laid on the adjoining surface of equal breadth. Beyond this 

 another circle of sods is taken out, and laid to dry in the same 

 manner; and thus the work proceeds, until the quantity dug, 

 with that which is left undisturbed for a floor, is as much as 

 can be properly burnt on the space in the centre. As soon as 

 the sods are sufficiently dry some are gathered together, the 

 heap is set on fire, and additions are made of wet and dry 

 sods from time to time, so as to keep a regular, moderate, and 

 smothered fire, in proportion to the attention paid to which 

 particulars the husbandman is rewarded by the quantity of 

 potatoes he will procure.' 



Effects of paring and burning. — The quantity of ashes 

 thus made necessarily depends upon the nature of the veg'eta- 

 ble matter which lies upon the surface of the soil, as well a3 

 that of the earth, and the depth from which it is extracted. 

 When the object is merely to burn whatever is growing upon 



