A practice has long prevailed in Europe of paring and burning soils for the purpose of improving their texture and increasing their fertility. On clay lands, and such as contain too much vegetable matter, we conceive the process might be advisable if not too expensive. Its effect on clays is to destroy the adhesive quality of the soil, as the earth burned becomes rather of a silicious texture; and at the same time the surface is much enriched by the operation. In the other case it is calculated to reduce the redundancy of vegetable matter, as well as to enrich the soil. The operation is performed in the following manner:
When the ground is in a good sward of grass let it be carefully turned over with the plough, the irons of which should be well sharpened. Let the plough run about three inches deep.—Then cross plough with a very sharp coulter, and the sward will all be cut into squares of about 10 or 12 inches. You then proceed to set these square chunks up edgeways, by leaning two together, in which situation they will soon dry.—When well dried build a part of them tip in the form of little ovens, and let this be done at the distance of about every 18 feet each way. These are all to have a little opening or door, at a common windward side, for the air to enter, and another opening above for the smoke to pass off. On some dry day when the wind is fair for blowing into the holes below place some straw or other dry rubbish into the holes and set fire to it. As soon as the fires have got fully going in each of the heaps, let the holes in the tops be stopped up, for the purpose of retaining the smoke, and keep gradually building up the heaps as the fire penetrates them, until all the chunks of earth are piled up round them; and when the heaps have fully burned and sufficiently cooled, they are to be evenly spread over the ground, and ploughed in.
In some parts of Great Britain it has been the practice to burn peat earth, in a manner very similar to that before described for burning clay, and the ashes thus obtained from the mass were used for top dressings; but we believe this practice has mostly given way to that of rotting or decomposing peat in compost, the method of which is as follows: you form the compost heap of about one half of peat, a fourth of lime, and a fourth of barn dung, and these substances are to be separately laid along in a manner most convenient to be afterwards thrown into the compost heap in their proper proportions. You commence at one end with spreading a layer of peat on the ground, say, ten feet square and four inches in depth; then a layer of lime on this and another of barn dung, each two inches thick; then another layer of peat, as before, and then the lime and barn dung, as before, until in this way the heap is raised about four feet high, and let the last layer be of peat: then commence another ten feet square along side of this, and raise it as before, till you raise it to the same height; then with another ten feet square, at the end of this mass, and so on, till the heap is completed. After the heap has stood a while, it will heat, and when the heat begins to subside, you commence again at one end of the heap and cut the whole down to the bottom, with the spade, and form a new heap, throwing the exterior parts of the heap, thus cut down, into the middle of the other. A second heating of the mass will then commence, and when that subsides, the peat will be found sufficiently decomposed, and the whole an excellent mass of manure.
In this country peaty substances are usually to be found in morasses; as the superstratum of marle, as before-mentioned; as the principal ingredient of the salt marshes contiguous to the ocean, and as the superstratum of tracts of cold lands which are covered with growths of evergreen trees.
In making composts with upland marle, before-mentioned, the proportions of the marle, with that of the lime and dung, may be similar to those just mentioned for the peat composts, or perhaps the marle may be in greater proportion. The layers of each may be as before described, but the heap only raised to such height that it may be cleft down to the bottom with the plough, then thrown together in a ridge again with this implement; and let these operations be repeated, at intervals, till the whole becomes well mixed, pulverised, and in a state of fermentation, when it is fit for use, and should be immediately applied to the soil in the manner before-mentioned.
The use of wood ashes as a manure, is well known. It is good for almost all crops, and is to be used as a top dressing. It is much more efficacious as a manure in some parts of the country than others, particularly on Long Island. It is most valuable on light dry soils, particularly those which are sandy. Soot, as a top dressing, is much more valuable than ashes, and is proper for almost all arable lands. It is most efficacious when well pulverised before its application.
The dung of fowls of every sort has much calcareous matter in it, and is very efficacious, applied as top dressings. Malt dust is good in the same way—40 bushels of it is a proper allowance to the acre.
Night shade should be mixed with earth, say, two thirds of the latter to one of the former, and in the course of a few months it forms an excellent manure. In most European cities this excrement is carefully collected, for manure, while in this country its use has been neglected.
Many liquids are furnished from every domicile, and particularly the kitchen, which, mixed with earths, and other substances, would form valuable masses of manure. The liquids to which we principally refer, are the soap-suds, dish-water, brine of meat, urine, &c.; these should all be preserved, by being absorbed in rich earthy substances, together with the contents of the hog-sty; and in this way a large heap of good manure may be made that is commonly lost for want of attention in saving these ingredients.