1803. Oil Piirwg and Burnlfig Peai-Mofs Soils, 3^T 



from the foil itfelf, for procurinpj him excellent crops of grafs 

 and corn, ever fnice }iis mofs was in culture. 



The expence of levclliiivi, and parlnt^ and burning, mud de* 

 pend on the fituation of th-,^ furface of a peat-ho^. I find it 

 ellimated at dilFerent prices, accordin^^ly, from lilteen to fifty 

 ihillin.Cjs per -acre. 



Sometimes the nature of the furface admits tlie work to be 

 done with a common plough, and fometimt.s with a parinjj 

 plough and horfes ; and fometimes, in particular clrcumilances, 

 it is performed with the breaft plough, or pr^ring fpade. 'i'his 

 Jafl mode is thus accurately defcribed in the Agricultural Report 

 of tlic Nortli Riding of Yorkfiiire, by Mr Tuke junior: * It is 

 performed with a paring fpade, which a man thruRs forward 

 with his loins, and which cuts the fods about one foot in breadth, 

 and three feet in length. If the weather is fo un fettled after 

 paring, that the fods do not dry when lying on the ground, wo- 

 men and children are employed to fet tiiern en edge, to expe- 

 dite their drying -, after which, they are put into heaps, about 

 the fize of a bulliel, and burnt. ' 



This fimple and cheap mode of converting peat-mofs foils in- 

 to arable and pafture lands, by paring and burning, hath been 

 tried, in various parts of Scotland, with uniform fuccefs. I 

 think, of all tire methods prai^ifed, it is the cheapelt' and beft, 

 and, as fuch, moll approved by thofe enlightened on the fub- 

 jea. 



Mr P.utherford, in his Letter to Sir Jchn Sinclair, in the Ap- 

 pendix to the Survey of the Northern Counties, fays—* The 

 greatcft in-iprovcment, after draining boggy land, is,^ burning 

 the furface •, which operates a total alteration on the foil. ' 



In the Agricultural Report of Ciydcfdale, Mr Naifmith re- 

 commends draining mciTets, and then paring and burning their 

 furface, and top-drelTing it with fand, gravel, or clay, which, 

 he fays, has been followed with fuccefs in the Middle Ward of 

 Clydefdale ; which county alone has forty-two thcufand acres 

 of mofs ground. 



It would be tedious, here, to go over every account of the 

 fuccefs of this method of reclaiming peat-moffcs, found in the 

 late agricultural furveys of Great Britain and Ireland, and fta- 

 tiftical accounts of Scotland. But all thofe accounts that I 

 have found written with precifion and accuracy, ate put in the 

 Appendix, together with fuch others as I have derived notice 

 of from perfonal information ; for experience is every thing in 

 agriculture. 



Permit me, however, further to remark, that, both in Eng- 

 land and Ireland, the fame ideas as thofe here dated are enter- 

 |»ined refpe£ting the improvement of molies, by the befl in- 

 formed 



