SOOT. 



in the fame direaion, as the lands or ridges lie ; the fame 

 waggon which brought it from Norwich, and which, until 

 the opportunity offered, had Itood fafe under cover, was 

 drawn in a furrow againft the wind ; while a man, itanding 

 on the outfide of the waggon, fpread the foot, with a 

 fhovel, feveral yards wide on either ilde of him ; the height 

 of his fituation at once enabling him to fpread it wide and 

 even. As he reached the windward end of the lands, the 

 team wheeled round under the hedges, and took a fre(h 

 width. The quantity fet on was forty biifhels an acre in this 



cafe. 



Mr. Young, however, remarks, that, in general, thirty 

 bufhels are ufed for a complete dreffing ; that is, when dung 

 or fome other manure has not been previoufly applied to the 

 fame crop, which is very frequently the praftice, and the 

 quantity of top-dreffing is then diminilhed to about one-half 

 of a complete dreffing. Of foot, a complete drefiing, as 

 above, colls from 30^-. to 36^. per acre. Soot is found to an- 

 fwer beft on wheat in April. It likewife fucceeds on peafe or 

 clover in the fame month, and has a good effeft fown with 

 barley, in the beginning of April, and harrowed in. A 

 flight dreffing of foot is ufed at any time in the fpring, when 

 grubs or worms appear to injure the young corn. The 

 worms frequently make great havoc, by drawing the blades 

 of young corn after them into their holes : this foot prevents 

 bell : foot thinly diltributed on newly fown turnips, juji be- 

 fore they come up, prevents the fly or grub from injuring 

 them, provided no rain falls to. waih it into the foil. Soot 

 anfwers beft on light, dry, chalky foils, and in moderately 

 wet feafons. It does little good on ftrong or wet land, or 

 in very dry feafons, unlefs fown earlier than ufual. The 

 London foot from coals is rarely bought unmixed with cnrk- 

 duil, coal-alhes, or fweepings of the ilreels ; yet, even in 

 this adulterated Hate, it is found to anfwer much better than 

 real country foot from wood. 



And it is remarked, in the Agricultural Survey of Hert- 

 fordfhire, that about Stevenage they fpread from 20 to 40 

 buthels an acre, bringing it from London : it cofts St/., and the 

 carriage -i,d., in all \ i(/./>f/-bu(hel. And Mr. Clarke of San- 

 dridgebury, Ipreads from 3 J to 4obufhels an acre on wheat. 

 But about Beachwood they fow from 30 to 40 bulhels on 

 wheat, in February or March, bought at i j. a bufhel at Lon- 

 don, and bring 160 bufliels in a waggon with four horfes. 

 Around Hitchin, 40 bulhels are fown on wheat. And a good 

 deal is ufed at Watford, at the rate of 40 bufliels an acre. 

 Alfo, about Barkway they have a very high opinion of it ; 50 

 bufhels an acre, brought 30 miles from London, are feen on 

 wheat to an inch. And it is ttated, in addition, that the 

 praftice is univerfal through this country ; infomuch, that 

 the queftion is, whether there is a parilh in it in which 

 fome men are not in the habit of ufing this manure from 

 London. 



On cabbage crops that have been fown, it has been found 

 that if, as foon as the plants appear diflinSly above the 

 ground, a furge of foot be drilled upon them, to the amount 

 of from 10 to 12 bulhels the acre, it affords much fecurity 

 againft the fly. And it has been fuggelted that thisbufmefs 

 may be cheaply and conveniently executed by a hopper and 

 round of cups, fimilar to Cook's, but larger, fixed to a 

 frame fimilar to that of the Northumberland drill. When 

 employed for preventing the fly in drilled turnips, it fhould 

 be fprinkled along the rows, from a fcuttle, by the hand, or 

 fome fuch mean, in the proportion of about twenty bulhels 

 the acre. 



But in refpeft to the application of this fort of fubftance 

 £0 land, it is remarked by Mr. Kiddle, in the fourth vo- 

 Jume of Communications to the Board of Agriculture, that 



all manures that are laid on the furface of land cannot be 

 laid on too early in the feafon. Soot, for inftance, is al- 

 ways recommended to be fown on wheats or clovers, and 

 grafs-lands, in the month of February, from a notion, that 

 if fown fooner, they v.ould exhauft themfelves too foon. 

 This, he thinks, abfurd reafoning. No manure can be of 

 any fervice to the crop, which it is meant to advantage, until 

 it reaches the roots : and what contributes more to fave it 

 than the winter rains, and the dilTolving of the fnow ? He 

 has, in confequence, always fown the foot for wheat and 

 clover, when he has been able to procure it, in the month 

 of November or December, and always with fatisfaftion to 

 himfelf. He laft year fowed with foot an inclofure of wheat 

 of eight acres, part of which was fown in the beginning of 

 December, before the froft fet in, and a heavy rain fucceed- 

 ed the fowing ; on the remaining parts, owing to his not 

 being able to procure more foot at that time, the fowing was 

 poftponcd until after the froft was gone, in the month of 

 February. The quantity fown on an acre, in both inltances, 

 was equal ; but the fuperiority of the crop of wheat, where 

 it was fown early, might be difcerned by the eye. He had 

 the curiofity to have it tliraflied feparately, and found its in- 

 creafe beyond the other confiderable. If he could procure 

 foot at the time of fowing wheat, he fhould be under no ap- 

 prehenfion of its anfwering then, if the land was worked for 

 the wheat. Some years fince, having bought a fmall quan- 

 tity of foot immediately after harveft, he had the defire to 

 try its effe(5ls on the crop at that early feafon, and having a 

 pea-ftubble which had been ploughed twice, and was de- 

 iigned for wheat, after fowing as much of the land as he 

 had foot for with wheat, he then had the foot fown, and 

 ploughed both in together. He owns he was anxious to fee 

 the fuccefs of his experiment, as it was a novel one, as were 

 his neighbours alfo who had feen it done. The remainder of 

 the land was fown with foot, as he was able to procure it. 

 The wheat, where the foot was loon with it, kept the lead 

 during the firft months : this he did not wonder at, but ex- 

 pefted it from its forcing quality ; but lie was very much 

 pleafed to fee it continue to do fo during the remainder 

 of the feafon, and at harvell the fuperioritv in favour of 

 it was eafily to be feen. 



Soot, in fome diftrifts, as where the foil is rather inclining 

 to be ftrong and heavy, is far from being found a durable 

 manure, though it commonly produces very llrong crops 

 for the firft year. And it is in other places more commonly 

 applied over the grafs-lands than the tillage crops, being fup- 

 pofed more ufeful and proper in fuch a manner of applica- 

 tion. But it is not improbable but that it is a fort of ma- 

 nure that may in general be the beft fitted to be employed in 

 its dry ftate by being thrown into the ground at the fame 

 time with the feed, fomewhat in the manner of powdered 

 rape-cake, having the advantage of requiring no fort of pre- 

 paration when ufed in this way. 



Some fuppofe that 20 bulhels of foot to the acre are 

 nearly equal to 50 of the afhes of either coals, wood, or 

 peat. And the writer of the Middlefex corredled Agricul- 

 tural Report remarks, that the fmoke, confifting of the 

 lighteft particles of foot and coal, raifed by the force of the 

 afcending current of rarefied air arifing from 300,000 fires in 

 the metropolis and its vicinity, is daily depofited on the fur- 

 rounding country ; where the next rain wafhes it into the 

 foil, and it promotes vegetation and the fertility of the 

 land to a confiderable degree. 



The dyers make a confiderable ufe of foot, for a kind of 

 dun-colour ; which, it is true, has no agreeable fmcU ; but, 

 in return, it has the property of faving clothes, and other 

 Huffs, from moths. 



Carbonated 



