CULTIVATION OF WASTE LAND 387 



areas we can distinguish again between the low-lying moors bordering 

 the lower courses of the great rivers; for example, in England near the 

 mouth of the Trent, and the upland peat-bogs of which Ireland furnishes 

 so many examples. They have these features in common — an excess of 

 water, a deficiency of mineral salts, and, particularly in the upland 

 bogs, a strongly acid reaction; but they possess great potential wealth 

 in their richness in nitrogenous organic matter. It is in Germany and 

 Holland that the methods of bringing into cultivation these moors have 

 been most completely worked out; in Germany, for example, it is esti- 

 mated that there are about five million acres of moorland of which about 

 10 per cent, are now under cultivation. The reclamation process must 

 begin by drainage, which may be carried out by open ditches, but is 

 most satisfactorily effected by pipes, despite the greater cost. The 

 water-table must be kept some 3 feet below the surface. In districts 

 which afford a market for peat, as, for example, on the Teufelsmoor near 

 Bremen, the reclamation often begins by cutting out the peat, the lower 

 layer of firm peat being won, dried, and sold for fuel. The upper spongy 

 peat can be used for litter, but some part at least must be thrown back. 

 Where the burning peat is thus extracted the excavation is in places 

 pushed further until the underlying sand is reached, and enough of this 

 is dug to spread over the reclaimed area to a depth of 4 or 5 inches and 

 mixed by cultivation with the spongy peat. Even when the peat is not 

 removed, pits are often made in order to sand the land, so great an 

 improvement does it effect in the character of the crops. However, 

 sanding is not possible everywhere, and there are great areas under culti- 

 vation where the reclamation begins with drainage, followed by the 

 cultivation of the immediate surface without either sanding or the 

 removal of the burning peat, which indeed are impossible over large 

 areas, but are carried out by the owners of small farms little by little. 

 Special tools are required: certain forms of disc-ploughs and harrows 

 give the best results ; heavy tools for large scale cultivation by steam or 

 electricity are furnished with broad roller-like wheels; even the horses 

 must wear broad wooden shoes. 



The next stage is the manuring, and it has only been the develop- 

 ment of the artificial fertilizer industry during the last half-century 

 that has rendered the cultivation of this type of land possible. On the 

 alluvial moors where the ground water has always been alkaline, the 

 peat is rich in calcium and no treatment with lime and marl is necessary 

 (the English fens afford an example of this type of soil), but on the 

 true peat-bogs (Hochmoor of Germany) the manuring must begin with 

 a good dressing of burnt lime, or, better, of marl or ground chalk. 

 For meadows and pastures two tons per acre of lime, or twice as much 

 of carbonate of lime, should be applied ; the amounts may be halved 

 for arable land. This must be followed by about 5 to 8 cwt. per acre 



