EDITOEIAL. 103 



arranged at various heights, which have been formed in the process 

 of removing the peat for commercial purposes. Large ditches, afford- 

 ing outlets for the drainage of the moors, have been excavated to the 

 layer of sand, and lead directly to the river. It has been learned that 

 any part of the turf can be removed and the place from which it was 

 taken, ydien drained and treated with suitable fertilizer, can be made 

 productive, that part Ij'ing 8 feet below the surface and near the 

 sand base being as valuable as the original surface. The spongy and 

 soft nature of the land requires special methods of management. The 

 hekl lanes, as well as the public roads, must be well covered with sand 

 to prevent the wheels of vehicles .from sinking too deeply into the 

 muck. The horses must have broad footpads clamped to their hoofs 

 whenever they are driven upon the fields. A large part of the culti- 

 vation and joreparation of the soil for the crops must be performed by 

 hand labor. The farm buildings settle unevenly and soon present a 

 sorry appearance unless their foundations are sunk to the underlying 

 sand or clay. 



As a sequence of the experimental work at- the Government moor 

 culture stations a great impetus has been given to the development of 

 these lands, which for centuries have lain idle. The resuUs obtained 

 in the several parts of the Empire, and the assistance given to moor 

 farmers, have imparted a confidence in the future of these lands which 

 bids fair to gradually bring them into the agricultural domain. Par- 

 ticular value attaches to the work of the station at Bernau, in Bavaria, 

 bordering the Chiem See, at the foot of the Tyrol Mountains, where 

 5,000 acres of moor land lies in sight of the King's castle, a mile dis- 

 tant, since it has brought into prominent notice some of the essentials 

 of successful moor culture. 



As may be readily inferred, the first step in reclaiming these moor 

 lands is drainage. The land is virtually a bog with water Wing at 

 the surface, and held throughout most tenaciously by the vegetable 

 spongy material of which the moor is composed. The usual practice 

 among farmers is to dig ditches 2 feet deep and 45 feet apart, dividing 

 the land into narrow strips which must always thereafter be culti- 

 vated as separate fields. The station has shown that the ditches may 

 be made 65 feet apart and 3 feet 8 inches deep, in which drain tile 

 nuiy be placed after the ditches have lain open for two or three 

 months. The ditches are then filled and level culture is practiced, 

 resulting in great economy of labor and in the saving of about one- 

 fortieth of the surface of the land, which in the ordinary method of 

 draining would be occupied by open ditches. It was formerly held 

 by those well versed in moor culture that drain tiles would not remain 

 in alignment because of the continual settling of the land which fol- 

 lows the removal of the water and subsequent cultivation. A careful 

 record of the position of the water table of the drained moors shows 



