2G8 
On Burnhuj Clay. 
sown sooner in the spring. Tlie improvement on the crop amplv pajs 
for the outlay, as well as having the land much better for the following 
crops. Burning is a fertiliser to the soil, and the oftener it is burned 
the more it improves the staple and quality of the land. So far from 
destroying the soil, it acts greatly to its improvement, and is highly con- 
ducive to the growth of the cultivated crops ; the effects mav be seen 
more particularly in the clover. It is too early in the season to send 
some ashes, or clay which has been burnt. 
Mr. F. Mathews, of High Easter Land, owner and occupier to a con- 
siderable e.xtent, burns all be can, and allows his tenants to break up 
old pasture, provided they burn. 
III. — On Bvminff Clay. By Litchfield Tabrum. 
To T. W. Bramslon, Esq. 
My dkar Sir, — It is thirty years since I began the system of 
burning earth for manure, on a very small scale^, in an imperfect 
and very expensive manner ; but in a few years afterwards 1 re- 
duced it to a regular course of farming, commencing by sowing 
from 10 to 12 lbs. of the best trefoil seed, and from 4 to 6 pecks 
of rye-grass per acre, on the exhausting wheat crop, early in the 
spring, having it harrowed and rolled in, the expense of which is 
amply repaid by the autumn and spring feed it produces, enabling 
a much larger flock of sheep to be kept. There is a twofold ad- 
vantage in being liberal in the quantity of seed sown — that is, in 
the quantity of feed and in the increase of herbage, which mate- 
rially assist the burning, and much improve the quality of the 
ashes. 
It is highly necessary to have the land well under-drained before 
it is burnt. I drained nearly all the Bury Farm about 4 yards 
apart (some only 3 yards, which j^aid tl^s best) before I burnt it. 
I have now made up my mind to have them only 6 or 7 feet 
apart, and from 16 to 18 inches deep, with the mole-ploiujh and 
16 horses. I have proved it jmsitively by experience that the 
mole-plough on the clay lands is far superior to the spade, inde- 
pendent of the comparative small expense of the former. If you 
observe as the mole of the plough moves on, you will see the earth 
heave up near a yard unde each side of the plough, and it loosens 
the subsoil much more effectually, in my opinion, than any other 
plough made for that purpose, and prevents the possibility of any 
stagnant water remaining on the land. It might then always be 
sown on the flat or Kentish mode, instead of the old-fashioned 
Koothing ridycs, or hiyh-back stetches — that is, if it is followed up 
by effectual burning about once in six or eight years, with an in- 
termediate coat of yard manure or folding, and would double the 
