WHAT SHALL WE DO WITH OUR PEATY SOILS? 177 



In all our dealing with swampy land in preparing to crop, it is well to 

 make haste slowly, to begin with a small parcel on an average portion and 

 try a few experiments before plunging headlong into the work. 



In all our work with peaty soils, after drainage we have first to ask, How 

 far can I, with the means at hand and with due regard to the profits, make 

 additions to this land and supply lacking plant food and do away with or 

 overcome the bad qualities of which I have already spoken? And, second, 

 what crops that will be profitable can I raise that will ;iot be likely to be 

 injured by the frost, the heaving, or the drouth? 



In England, where labor is cheap and help plenty, they go to great trouble 

 and expense in reclaiming bog lands. Paring and burning the surface, 

 limeing, sanding, claying, trenching and bringing up marl from the bottom of 

 the trenches to leave on top of the land, and even going so far as almost to 

 build a soil on top of the bog land. All of these processes are so expensive 

 tliat we cannot think of adopting them, nor do I believe it is necessary to 

 Jo so in order to get fairly profitable results with many crops. 



Any one who has ever cut hay on such land must have noticed the greater 

 luxuriance of growth in spots where droppings of cattle and horses have been 

 scattered. This shows plainly that a coating of barnyard manure here will 

 pay as well or better than on an upland. 



Ashes are excellent, as they not only furnish plant food but compact the 

 soil and this packing of the soil is one great thing to be always kept in view. 

 Dirt of any kind may almost always bo used with profit. Even a very thin 

 coating working wonders. 



But we must remember that the muck in many of our swamps is so shal- 

 low that the plow brings up soil here and there, or the craw-fish bring it to 

 the surface, and where there is much of this I would not expect any great 

 good from the addition of soil. 



The crop best adapted to these soils is grass for pasture. "When once 

 well seeded to June grass and red top the sod acts as a shield and they 

 neither heave nor dry out very badly, and are very profitable as pastures, 

 giving much feed and continuing through the season. For timothy hay 

 they are very good, but the frost nips the tops once in a while. 



The great trouble is to get a catch. If the seed is sown too late in spring 

 the drouth kills it and in the fall freezing kills it. I have known some per- 

 sons to sow rye with the grass seed to protect the young grass plants. Only 

 a very small amount of rye was used and it seemed to work well. A good 

 rolling also helps very much. Millett and Hungarian seem to do well if a 

 sprinkling of manure or dirt has been added. 



They say it is just the place for celery. Turnips and other roots grow 

 very well, but are apt to be poor keepers and must be harvested early to 

 prevent freezing. They are also inclined to grosv up to leaves and do not 

 form as smooth and nice a root as on upland soils. Cabbages and some other 

 garden crops do very well. If corn is planted it should be an early maturing 

 variety, and even then we need not be surprised if the frost instead of our 

 stock gets the crop. 



Unless we can manure very heavily with sand, clay, lime or ashes, it is 

 hardly possible to grow oats, barley or wheat with profit on such lands. They 

 are not and never will be grain lands and must usually be managed as stock 

 farms. Where this is done we may expect some profit besides the satisfaction 

 of removing the unsightly places and rendering the country more healthful. 



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