59 



Burning Land for Manure. 



enlist the aid of a neighbour or labourer practised in the art, it will 

 greatly assist his efforts; notwithstanding such assistance, con- 

 siderable practice will be required ere he becomes a proficient, 

 as most injurious effects may from apparently trivial causes arise : 

 as an instance I may mention that, whilst in calm weather heaps 

 should be made as open as is consistent with arrangements neces- 

 sary for a due draught, in windy weather the heaps should be 

 formed as close and as large as possible, labourers being con- 

 tinually employed to stop up every crevice, particularly those on 

 the leeward side ; for which purpose the whole of the sods should 

 not be heaped up at first, but a few be left scattered about, in 

 order to apply in the manner named. Should the soil yield to 

 the agency of a slight torrefaction, either through its composition 

 being such as not to have a tendency to bake, or through a large 

 amount of carbonaceous matters being present, it may be neces- 

 sary to throw on the lee-side some shovelfuls of earth. In stating 

 this I may say that the farmer may in tolerably open loams take 

 advantage of such a circumstance to burn double or treble the 

 amount of soil that he would otherwise have been capable of 

 doing. I have experienced the benefit arising from taking advan- 

 tage of such a circumstance, and can confidently recommend it to 

 others. In arranging the heaps, both as respects size and situ- 

 ation, it may be observed that on stiff clays, and particularly such 

 as only contain a small amount of vegetable matter, it will be 

 found impossible to make the requisite torre faction in small heaps ; 

 whilst in more open soils, or soils containing a considerable 

 amount of carbonaceous matter, the heaps or steaddles — other 

 circumstances being favourable — can scarcely be too numerous ; 

 for this reason, that every heap burned on soils of the quality now 

 under consideration will torrefy the soil on which it is placed to 

 a depth of 2, 3, 4, or 5 inches according to circumstances, thus 

 greatly increasing the productive amount of ashes and torrefied soil, 

 at no increase, but rather a diminution, of expense and labour. In 

 dry weather I have frequently, when all the principal sods, &c., 

 had been gathered up and placed in heaps, and whilst they were 

 in the act of burning, sent men round with large rakes to rake up 

 every particle of grass or other vegetable matter, and the small 

 crumbly clots of soil from the size of marbles to 2 or 3 inches' 

 diameter, which could be found between each heap, and throwing 

 a shovelful of fire amongst the soil so gathered, by which the 

 amount of ashes was greatly increased. Provided the weather 

 prove favourable, this will be found a most excellent practice. 

 The rakes I used were home-made, being merely a head com- 

 posed of ash, 2 feet 6 inches long and I J- inch square, into which 

 twelve two-shilling-the-hundred nails were fixed, in the following 

 manner, viz.— holes were bored in the head of the rake by an 



