ON MANURES. 141 



a manure fit to produce abundant turnip crops, of every de- 

 scription, on a variety of soils; even the Swedes, so difficult to 

 g-rovv on light land, will prove a more luxuriant crop with this 

 manure than with farm-yard dung-, and are less liable to be 

 cut off by the fly. It may be supposed by some that any crop 

 sown on this manure would be precarious in dry seasons, not 

 containing, as they may conceive, any enriching quality or 

 properties to preserve moisture : but this is by no means the 

 case, for it will be found that an application of burned earth 

 makes the land on which it is applied more capable of absorb- 

 ing moisture from the atmosphere; and, by minutely dividing 

 the soil, the roots of plants can search more freely for nourish- 

 ment. I have often observed that farm-yard dung, unless very 

 well prepared, does not, in excessive dry seasons, supply suffi- 

 cient moisture to the roots of plants; and that, during such 

 seasons, crops sown on ashes, or burned earth, have uniformly 

 thriven, while those in dunged land have gradually declined,' 



General Beatson's farm — which consists of 300 acres, 120 

 of which are arable — was managed for some years previous to 

 his death under an entirely novel system of culture. The plan 

 on which it had been previously conducted was so unprofitable, 

 that he had determined on abandoning the farm altogether, 

 when his attention w^as attracted to a small inclosure, where 

 he had four burnt clay experiments, around which was a space 

 unmanured, and beyond it all the rest of the field manured 

 with rotten dung at the rate of forty loads per acre, the whole 

 carefully scarified, harrowed, and drilled, exactly in the same 

 manner. Those clay experiments not only maintained a very 

 striking superiority during the growth of three successive 

 crops — the first being a mixture of tares and oats, and the 

 second and third wheat ; but where also perfectly clean, whilst 

 the dunged part was absolutely choked with weeds : they had 

 eacii respectively at the rate of ten, twenty, thirty, and forty 

 cart-loads of the ashes per acre. This gave rise to his subse- 

 quent practice, which, according to his account, he continued 

 with complete success for upwards of six years, during which 

 time the entire of his arable land was manured with the ashes 

 cf burnt clay, his farm dung being solely applied to his hop- 

 grounds, and a few acres of potatoes. 



Analysis. — The term ' burned eartW may be understood as 

 implying any species of soil capable of being dried up by 

 excessive heat. Moory and light sandy soils, being deficient 

 in tenacity, cannot, however, be so applied with advantage; 



