176 FARMERS' INSTITUTES. 



3d. A third peculiarity of peat is that when it once becomes thoroughly 

 wet, as during winter and spring, it dries out very slowly and being so full of 

 water renders it cold and unfit for most crops until late in spring. It not 

 only parts with its capillary water more slowly than other soils but has more 

 of it to part with, and this still further retards the time when it may 

 safely be planted or sown. 



A dry soil will be 12 to 14 degrees warmer than a wet one at the same 

 time. 



Trying to warm up peat or muck holding two or three times its own 

 weight of water is like trying to boil water by building a fire on top of the 

 kettle, rather slow business. 



4th. When once thoroughly dry, peat lies up loosely and a light rain runs 

 through it as through a sieve, and so in times of drouth, unless the rain be 

 very heavy, it seems to do no good. This will more especially affect young 

 plants as a new seedling, the roots of which are near the surface, while 

 plants that are fully established may have roots long enough to reach the 

 bottom water which may nearly always be found a little below the drains. 

 Then, too, when dry, peat heats up very rapidly in the day time and thus 

 further aggravates the drouth. There is no half way business about muck, 

 whatever peculiarity it has at all it has very strong or a little too much. 

 When frosty it is too frosty, when wet it is too wet, (and this with capillary 

 water which the drains will not remove), when dry it is too dry. 



5th. When wet, as in spring and fall, it contains so much water as to 

 heave badly by the freezing and thawing. A drained soil heaves out plants 

 by freezing nearly in proportion to the amount of water held by capillary 

 attraction, and peat holds more water in this way than any other soil we 

 have. 



6th. It is very loose and light when dry and does not hold the plants 

 firmly enough. Plants blow over easily, thus injuring the crop. A good 

 soil is mellow but still firm enough to hold the plants as to prevent the 

 the wind from breaking the roots and overturning the plants. Corn grow- 

 growing on mucky soil, or any tall growing crop, is very much injured in 

 this maner. 



7th. When first drained it usually contains some acids injurious to vege- 

 tation and these acids must be neutralized or in some way disposed of before 

 many of our cultivated plants will grow. These acids ordinarily may 

 easily be killed by weathering, that is turning the soil up and leaving it 

 exposed to the weather for a longer or shorter period of time. Occasionally 

 we find a swamp that persistently remains barren after drainage and this 

 usually because it is so sour or contains so much acid. To reclaim such a 

 piece of land here at the present time would probably cost as much or more 

 than the land would afterwards be worth. In England heavy limeing is 

 practiced. 



Lastly. Although the peat of our swampy lands is simj^ly decomposed 

 vegetable matter, yet the change has usually gone on under water, 

 so that unlike barnyard manure it is not a complete plant food. Some 

 elements of plant food are inert or else lacking entirely, and wherever 

 the vegetable matter is so deep that a plow will not turn up more or less 

 traces of other soil below, experience has shown that the addition of other 

 substances as manures are of great value. A load of common earth spread 

 upon the surface of a deep muck may and frequently does do more good 

 than a load of the best barnyard manure upon an upland field. 



