478 Retrospective Criticism. 



inscription. The ceremony was performed in silence, and in the presence of 

 several ladies and gentlemen, some of whom were acquainted with him whose 

 memory the monument is intended to perpetuate. (Gard. Gaz., Aug. 7.) 



Art. IV. Retrospective Criticism. 



Burning of Soils, as a Means of improving them. — In the Magazine for 

 July, p. 345., there is an article on burning of soils, as a means of improving 

 them ; and in your own " Design for laying out a Suburban Residence," you 

 say (p. 352.) that " the soil of both the kitchen-garden and orchard will be 

 rendered light by burnt lumps of clay intermixed with it in a state of powder." 

 Sir Humphry Davy tells us that by burning we " convert a matter which was 

 stiiFand damp, and in consequence cold, into one powdery, dry, and warm, and 

 much more proper as a bed for vegetable life." This theory, I think, admits 

 of great doubt of its being founded on strictly scientific principles. At least 

 I have not found it to answer in practice. About fifteen or sixteen years ago 

 the burning of soil in this neighbourhood was all the rage. In fact, there 

 was a perfect mania among the farmers for soil-burning, and, like a great many 

 other new schemes, it was expected to work wonders ; but the rage has long 

 passed away, and it is now quite out of date. Farmers found that it did not 

 answer their expectations, and I, as a gardener, found out its bad effects, 

 which is my chief reason for troubling you with this letter. At the time 

 when burning was the rage, my worthy employer wished me to try a 

 quarter of the garden here, which is a stiff tenacious soil upon a clay bottom, 

 stating that there was one of his tenants who had burnt his garden all over, 

 and he had converted it from a strong clay into a fine light soil. This was 

 great encouragement for me to proceed, so I set about it, and had a quarter 

 of the garden burnt all over about eight inches deep. Knowing from the 

 stiffness of the soil that it was of no use half-doing it, I burnt it till it was 

 red like bricks, and expected the most beneficial results. The first summer, 

 which was the fine summer of 1826, it worked light and friable, and I began 

 to think that I had cured it of its stiffness, but even in that dry sum- 

 mer I found it a powerful absorbent. The next summer it began to get 

 stiffer, and the third year it became as stiff or even stiffer than before it was 

 burnt. Whether it was judiciously burnt or not is another matter, but I cer- 

 tainly failed in converting a stiff soil into a permanent light one ; nor have I 

 ever since been able to make that quarter of the garden equal to those which 

 were not submitted to the action of heat. I have had it covered with lime 

 and sharp sand mixed, 3 or 4 inches thick, and strongly manured with 

 animal and vegetable manures at different times, but it still continues to bear 

 indifferent crops, and is not so pleasant to work as the rest of the garden. 

 So that I have not only failed in converting a stiff soil into a light one, but I 

 have also deteriorated it, and such has been the case with every one of my 

 neighbours who has attempted it. — W. H. Mawley Hall, Aug. 9. 1841. 



Mr. Niven's Stove for various Purposes, (p. 429.) — I should have been 

 happy, had it been convenient for my friend Catius in the north, to have 

 been honoured with his proper name and address ; as, doubtless, from the 

 nature of his assertions, the public, for whom he is interested, and I myself, 

 might have derived no small benefit from his superior knowledge. This 

 common advantage being denied me, I must regret leaving him to his present 

 obscurity ; from which, when it may please him to emerge, I hope not to be 

 without substantial evidence of the advantage arising from my arrangements. 

 Time is the test of truth. — N. Niven. Richmond Hill, Monkstown, Dublin, 

 Aug. 10. 1841. 



