,574 HUSBANDR V. 
of alkaline faline matter which it contains; which, by its 
a&ion on the rich vegetable mould of the foil or.earth 
with which it is mixed, may render it more capable of 
fupplying the nutrition of plants ; and it may bring the 
thick oleaginous matter of the foot into fuch a ftate as to 
be capable of folution or diffufion in water, and thereby 
in a condition to be taken up by the abforbent roots of 
vegetables. The earthy matter of this fubftance, as well 
as that of different kinds of afhes, may probably be ren¬ 
dered more fuitable for the purpofe of promoting vegeta¬ 
tion, bv their having been expofed to the aftion of fire, 
an is well known to be the cafe with clay. The great ftate 
of tenuity or finriiefs in which foot is found/may likewife 
be ferviceable, as by that means it becomes capable of be¬ 
ing more regularly and more extenfively mixed with the 
foils on which it is applied, indeed the good effeCts of 
mo ft fubftances employed as top-dreffings depend, in fome 
meafure, upon this cireumftance. Soot, as it contains al¬ 
kaline i'alt in a confiderable proportion, might probably 
be ufed with greater advantage by being well mixed or 
blended with rich mould, or peat-earth, and by fuch a me¬ 
thod the quantity of manure would be greatly increafed. 
This fliould not however be attempted where the de- 
ftrubtion of infeCts forms any part of the defign of the 
farmer. 
Soot, fays Mortimer, is very.good both for’corn and 
grafts, efpecially -on cold clays, or lands much over¬ 
run with mofs; but fea-coal foot is the beft by much; 
forty buftiels are commonly allowed to an acre, but fome 
lands require more. A hundred buftiels have produced 
an extraordinary crop ; but it was a dry feafon ; if much 
rain had followed, being laid on lb thick, it might proba¬ 
bly havedifiolved the roots and ftalks of the plants entirely. 
If the weather prove dry, a fmall quantity has little ef¬ 
fect, being evaporated or difperfed by the fun and winds. 
About JBaldock, they bring foot from London, three 
hundred buftiels to a waggon-load, The price is from 
yd. to 9d»a-bufliel, very lhort meafure, which makes the 
price from 9d. to nd. the Winchefter bulhel, ltruck. It 
is laid on a heap on the lands. From this a common feed- 
fcuttle is filled, and a man walking the length of the lands 
fows the foot as they do corn. The quantity ufed on a 
itlitute-acre is from twenty to forty Winchefter-bufhels. 
In general, thirty buftiels are reckoned a complete drelf- 
ing, when dung or other manure has not been ufed ; but, 
when the land "has been dunged, half the quantity of foot 
is fufficient. Soot is found to anfwer beft on wheat in 
April. It likewife ftucceeds on peafe or clover in the fame 
month ; and has a good effeft iown with barley in the be¬ 
ginning of April, and harrowed in. A flight drefiing of 
foot is ufed at any time in the fpring, when grubs or worms 
appear to injure the young corn. Thinly diftributed on 
ijewly-fown turnips, juft before they come up, it prevents 
the fly or grub from injuring them, provided no rain falls 
to wafh it into the foil; but, if lown after the plants come 
r.p, it greatly injures them, particularly if the feafon comes 
dry. Soot anfwers beft on light dry chalk foils, and in mo¬ 
derately-wet feafons; it does little good on ftrong or wet 
land, or in very dry feafons, unlefs Town earlier than ufual. 
The London coal-loot is generally mixed with cork-daft, 
coal-afnes, or fweepings of the ftreets ; yet, even in this 
adulterated ftate, it is found to anfwer much better than 
country foot from wood. 
In Norfolk, near towns, foot is ufed as a top-drefting 
for wheat in February or March. If it be fown early, and 
the frolt catch it, the ftrc.ngth is thereby lowered ; if late, 
and no rain fall to wafli it in, it is thought rather injuri¬ 
ous than beneficial. And it is not, in any cafe, found of 
much, if any, fervi.ce, to the fucceeding crop of barley. 
The quantity fet on is forty bulhels an acre. Their man¬ 
ner of fowing it is this : A favourable opportunity being 
embraced, when the wind blows gently in the direction 
of the lands or ridges ; the waggon, which is kept under 
cover till wanted, is drawn in a furrow againft the wind ; 
while a man, Handing on the outfidc of the waggon, fpreads 
the foot, with a (hovel, feveral yards wide on either fide 
of him; the height of his fituation at once enabling him 
to fpread it wide and even. As he reaches the windward 
end of the lands, the team wheels round under the hedges, 
and takes a frefli width. . 
Soot is commonly reputed to deftroy clover, while it 
encourages the growth of ray-grafs. Dr. Anderfon in¬ 
forms us, that this opinion is erroneous. He fays, how- 
ever, that, although it does not deftroy clover, yet it pro¬ 
motes not in any lenfible degree the growth of it; and, that 1 
he has ufed foot as a top-drefling for clover and ray-grals in. 
all proportions, from one hundred to fix hundred bulhels 
on an acre, without perceiving the clover to be in the leuft 
degree more luxuriant than in the places where no foot had' 
been applied. But the effebls of this manure upon ray- 
grafs is amazing, andincreafes in proportion to the quan¬ 
tity. Hence, in fields drelfed with foot, the ray-grafs fo far 
overtops the clover, that the latter is not feen, and the- 
whole crop feems to be ray-grafs; although in fa< 5 l there 
is as much clover as if it had mot been manured at all. 
Where foot, allies, or any other material that contains 
faline matters, is to be employed as manure, it Ihould al¬ 
ways be prelerved in (beds, or ether convenient places,, 
from rains, or the accidental application of water to it; 
as, where this practice is negleftcd, the faline fubftances- 
are foon dilfolved and carried away in a liquid form. Itr 
is chiefly from this caufe that fubftances of this kind, 
which have been long expofed without being covered, are 
often found lo inferior in their effefts to thole which are 
frelh or newly made. On this account alfo, if fuch liib- 
ftances are laid on land at too early a period of the feafon,. 
they will be liable to have much of their valuable proper¬ 
ties carried away by the rains that may take place. 
Muriat of foda , or fea-falt. It is a 1 object of difpute- 
whether this, or any other neutral fait, be of any ufe as 
a manure. There are many experiments and conclufions> 
on both iides. In thofe which are favourable, it was the 
relufe, that is, the part molt loaded with bittern, that was- 
ufed. From fir John Pringle’s experiments, it appears- 
that fea-falt, if below or exceeding a certain proportion, 
is a powerful feptic. Nov/, whatever promotes putrefac¬ 
tion mull be a manure. But the feptic quality of fea-falt 
is far inferior to that which the bittern or muriat of mag- 
nefia, and the muriat of lime, lalts which abound in the 
refufe of fea-falt, poflefs. Thele are perhaps the moll fep¬ 
tic of any bodies with which we are acquainted, and from 
their extreme attraction for water, have a tendency to keep 
land perpetually moift. Reafoni.ng then from the quali¬ 
ties ol bodies, we Ihould elteem the refufe of fait at lead, 
a powerful manure. But, applied in fuch quantity as to 
faturate the foil, it u'ould kill every plant, and continue 
to prevent vegetation until its excefs were walhed away. 
However this may be, fo much is certain, that, fown upon 
paftures, fait, or its refufe, if it did not increafe the her¬ 
bage, would at lead render it highly palatable to cattle. 
Nitre, or faltpetrc, as appears from Dr. Home’s experi¬ 
ments, mixed in the proportion of one ounce to fix pounds 
of earth, rather retards than promotes vegetation ; yet, 
when added in fmall quantities aiflolved in water, it pro¬ 
moted vegetation conliderably. When a plant is fo fitu- 
ated, that it is compelled to draw up any lalt into its fub¬ 
ftance, or when the roots cannot extend themfelves with¬ 
out coming in contaCt with laline particles, it foon lan- 
guilhes and dies; yet every procefs by which the faline 
ingredients in a Toil are made to decompofe, and aflume 
new arrangements, contributes highly to its fertility. Of 
thefe no procefs is more beneficial than that by which ni¬ 
tre is formed. Although therefore this lalt Ihould not of 
itfelf greatly promote vegetation, yet th¥ putrefactive pro¬ 
cefs excited in the foil, and which generates nitre, is the 
real cayfe of its fertility. 
Any fait whatever that is capable of exciting putrefac¬ 
tion, and that powerfully attracts and retains moillure, 
may be ufefully applied as a manure. No fait promotes 
vegetation by entering into the fubftance of plants, but. 
afls 
