v. Agric. [f. STIFLE v.1 or sb.2 + BURN v.] trans. To burn (field-refuse and surface-soil) in heaps pressed down with small access of air. Also Stifle-burning vbl. sb.
1844. Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc., V. I. 169. Paring and Burning, or, as it is called in North Wilts, ‘stifle-burning,’ is a system lately introduced into the south of the county.
1849. Johnston, Exp. Agric., 257. The burning should be slowly conducted, and with little access of air, a method which is well described by the epithet of stifle-burning.
1862. in Morton’s Farmer’s Cal., 166. A neighbour stifle-burned a clover lea from which a crop of hay was just cleared.
