43 



so airy that the combustion is easily excited, and the fires 

 kept up even in wet weather ; the cheapness with which 

 this valuable article will be furnished, is scarcely credible. 



Lime and ashes both possess a quality extremely conve- 

 nient in the formation of composts, great divisibility ; and 

 by this, can also be spread pure on the surface, in what- 

 ever proportions we can afford, with corresponding ad- 

 vantage. 



I dwell on these two descriptions of manure for several 

 reasons : I know of no other that can be procured in 

 quantities commensurate to the immense extent of surface 

 I propose to embrace. Ashes are to be made every ichere; 

 for the peat of our mountains is inexhaustible ; and Plin\' 

 asks, " Quoto enini in loco non suum marmor invenitur 

 I have the fullest experience of their successful application 

 to the use for which I now recommend them ; — I have re- 

 peatedly ascertained the extreme cheapness with which 

 they, at least ashes, are procured : and they are the prin- 

 cipal instruments upon which I depend, for enabling me to 

 fulfil the bold promises I have made, and both procured by 

 manual labour alone. 



Though they both can be administered pure, it is upon 

 the composts enlivened by them I chiefly depend. 



We left the bases of these composts, the prime material 

 from which they are formed, in small heaps on the edges 

 of the drain we had opened; our object now is to enrich 

 and to make them friable. For the latter purpose, when 

 they shall have stood some time to dry and mellow, we 

 throw every two contiguous heaps into onej and as we 

 break and mince them small, we throw in some shovel- 

 fulls of well-powdered lime, regulating the quantity by the 

 facility with which it is to be procured. 



AVhen these second and larger heaps shall have stood a 



