Experiments in Thin Sotoinff. 
539 
rich soil. They are, however, very serious in moist luxuriant 
summers. 
Two friends of mine sowed 4 bushels per acre, and only got 
4 quarters of grinding barley, which sold at 275. Qd. They had 
an abundance of crowded weakly straw, which was laid early ; 
mine dibbled, at 3 pecks per acre, in not near so good a soil, 
produced 6 quarters, which sold for 335. 6r/., with strong straws, and 
ears containing 17 to 19 kernels on each side. This was in 1845. 
It is a fact worth observing, that where I sowed I bushel per 
acre of wheat, 1 have a plant of clover, but have no plant where 
I used 2 bushels, although in the same field. I drill the clover 
on the wheat in the spring. 
I. J. iMKCHf. 
Septemher 26, 1S46. 
XXXVI. — On Peat Charcoal, as a Manure for Turnips and 
other Crops. By Hugh R.wnbird of Hengrave. 
Prize Essay. 
The use of Peat Charcoal as a manure for turnips and other 
crops, proposed as a subject of investigation by the Royal Agri- 
cultural Society, is one that calls for the consideration of many of 
the cultivators of the soil; for on many farms a portion of peaty 
land is to be found suitable for the preparation of charcoal; and 
when this happens to be the case, a valuable manure may be 
procured for the mere cost of the labour required in the operation 
of charring. Peat charcoal, being manufactured at home by our 
own labourers, and consequently not subject to a long and expen- 
sive carriage, as most of the new fertilizers are, has a decided ad- 
vantage over many of our other manures that are, as it were, the 
products of a foreign country ; and thus, coming from a distance, 
take a considerable sum fi'om the pocket of the farmer, though 
they frequently add but little to the immediate employment of 
his labourers. 
It is only within the last few years that peat charcoal has been 
prepared for the purpose of manure ; and it may be said to owe 
its introduction to the impetus which has been given to agriculture 
by the eftoits of those who have the management of the Royal 
Agricultural Society of England. But though charred peat 
ranks as a new manure, yet the ashes formed by burning peat 
have been used for upwards of a century in Berkshire and other 
parts of the country. 
The difference that exists between the two manures arises 
entirely from their distinct mode of preparation. The peat char- 
VOL. VII. 2 o 
