Farming of Lancashire. 25 



equal to the timber of the tropics^ are found embedded under 

 these mosses, as well as large horns of the red deer and elk. 



The cultivation of moss-lands appears to be the original farm- 

 ing of Lancashire ; that is to say, that branch of farming in which 

 it has a peculiar character and position, differing from the other 

 parts of the kingdom : Lincolnshire has its fens, Yorkshire its 

 wolds, and other counties their distinctive characteristics ; but 

 Lancashire has its mosses, and whilst in growing turnips or wheat 

 we are only doing what others can do equally well, or perhaps 

 better than ourselves, to produce these crops upon the surface of 

 a barren moss, varying from 3 to 30 feet in depth, is a triumph 

 in agriculture — such as no other county, I believe, can lay 

 claim to. 



The value of moss has long been admitted ; as far back as 

 1819, Mr. Nimmo says — 



" I am perfectly convinced, from all that I have seen, that any species of 

 bog is by tillage and manure capable of being converted into soil fit for 

 the support of plants of every description, and with due management 

 perhaps the most fertile that can be submitted to the operations of the 

 farmer." 



And Sir H. Davy says — 



'' A soil covered with peat, is a soil covered not only with fuel, but also 

 with manure ; it is the excess of manure only which is detrimental, and it 

 is much more easy to destroy than to create it. To cultivate a bog is a 

 much less difficult task than to improve a sand. If there is a proper level 

 to admit of draining, the larger the scale of operations the less must the 

 comparative expense be, because machinery may for many purposes take 

 the place of manual labour ; and the trials which have been already made 

 by private individuals, and which are stated in the different reports, prove 

 not only the feasibility of the general project, but afford strong grounds 

 for believing that capital expended upon it, after mature and well digested 

 plans, would in a very few years afford a great and increasing interest, 

 and would contribute to the wealth, prosperity, and population of Ire- 

 land." * 



Now in converting moss into land the first matter to be con- 

 sidered is the main drains, and these must be determined on with 

 reference to the extent, form, and situation of the moss, to the 

 levels of the lands by which the moss is surrounded, and likewise 

 to the levels of the subsoil on which the moss rests. 



Roads, having open drains on each side, must be made as a 

 general rule 7 yards wide, and must be laid out so that the fields 

 and their divisional drains run at right angles with the lines of the 

 roads. The open drains on each side of the roads are made for 

 the first year 3 feet wide at the top, 1 foot wide at the bottom, 

 and 4 feet deep ; but in the second year, when the moss is suffi- 

 ciently consolidated, it is desirable to make these drains 6 feet 

 wide at the top : at 18 inches from the surface this width of 6 



* For this testimony see Irish Farmers' Magazine, No. 29, March, 1836, p. 100. 



