124 PEAT ASHES. 



wood ashes. In wet land where varieties .of peat 

 abound, which are only decomposed with great diffi- 

 culty, it is sometimes advisable to burn on a large 

 scale, for the purpose of obtaining the ash as manure. 

 Heaps are made at convenient distances directly upon 

 the surface of the bog, and the fire started by means 

 of a little dry peat in the centre of each heap. As it 

 burns through to the outside, fresh peat is dug up and 

 thrown on, and so the process may be kept up as long 

 as desirable. 



It is to be observed, as to all these varieties of ashes, 

 that their value is greatly impaired by exposure to the 

 weather. This is in very many cases not attended 

 to; the ash heap is exposed to rain, and often to the 

 drippings of a roof beside. In either case a large 

 portion of the soluble and most valuable ingredients 

 are washed away, and the worth of the ashes to the 

 same extent diminished. They should, always, for 

 these reasons, be kept carefully covered. 



Soot is a manure that is much neglected in this 

 country, but is highly valued abroad. It results from 

 a species of distillation of wood, or of bituminous 

 coal ; the products of this distillation are condensed 

 on the sides of the chimney, as the ascending smoke 

 cools. The smoke also carries up and deposits large 

 quantities of the inorganic bodies from the fuel. Soot 

 thus comes to contain a great variety of both inorganic 

 and organic bodies. We find, for one very prominent 

 constituent, a large quantity of ammonia. Beside 

 this, there are phosphates, sulphates, carbonates and 

 chlorides of lime, potash, soda, iron, and magnesia. 

 These are the chief inorganic substances, and show it 

 to be a quite powerful manure. It contains so much 

 ammonia that when laid in heaps of grass, the plants 

 under it are destroyed very speedily. 



No analysis of soot is given here, because from the 

 way in which it is deposited, the composition must 



