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PRIZE ESSAYS ANI) TRANSACTIONS OF THE HIGHLAND SOCIETY. 
these last roots, situated about three or four 
feet deep in the peat earth, an aged fir was 
growing on the surface. ‘There were. here 
then three generations; or, as it were, three 
tire of trees, sinaly placed above one another. 
“This renders it probable that many of our deep- 
est peat mosses, not shifted by water, haye been 
produced by two, three, or more generations 
of trees, which have grown successively above 
one another at different and distant periods.” 
Pa’ - . .. . 
“The antiseptic property of peat is very 
remarkable ; and not only are the horns of 
animals, extinct for many centuries, pre- 
served in it tothe present day, but timber 
and even human bodies remain a long 
time without exhibiting any signs of de- 
cay when buried in peat. Nor does this 
antiseptic quality reside alone in the 
mass of peat, for it communicated in a 
very considerable degree to the brown- 
coloured water which flows from it. 
Captain Cook, having’to water his ship 
on the coast of Terra del Fuego, was 
obliged for this purpose to have recourse 
toa brook, | 
“« The water of which was of a reddish 
ue, like that which runs from the turf bogs 
in’ England. This, no doubt, was moss 
water. He was, at: first, suspicious of its 
quality, and used it sparingly ; but after hav- 
ing it long aboard, and in warm climates, it, 
proved the best water he took in during the 
whole voyage. It would appear from his ac- 
count that it never became putrid; and it is 
highly probable that moss water, or water ar- 
tificially impregnated’ with ‘peat, would be 
more salutary, and remain longer unchanged, 
especially in the hot latitudes, than any other 
river or standing water whatever.” 
* Peat mossesintheirnatural state, oreven 
when simply. drained, are not capable of 
bearing any valuable agricultural crops ; 
but by being covered with calcareous 
_ earth, either’ m the form of quicklime, 
Or shells, or marl, it is consolidated, and 
ma short time converted into good pas- 
ture, ground, which by judicious arrange- 
4 ment may be brought to bear the usual 
_ courses of tillage. 
_A singular and successful method of re- 
claiming the peat-mass of Kincardine was 
| practised by the amiable Lord Kaimes, 
and his worthy son Mr. Drummond. 
* «© The moss consists of about fifteen hun- 
dred acres, and is in general from three to ten 
feet deep ; itis bottomed bya fine clay, which, 
n cultivation, turns outa fertile soul, When 
BR resncn ober moss is floated away in 
 ¢anals to the Forth, this clay becomes the ob- 
ject and the reward of the cultivator. 
«« The improvement of the moss in this 
ay be an in the year 1768; and in ma 
hg 
, about four hundred acres were reclai 
711 
ed and cultivated. On these acres there were 
raised two thousand four hundred bolls of 
grain, and they supporied fifty-four horses 
and two hundred and one cows, where for- 
merly there was no stistenance to any crea- 
ture except moorfowl. “They bad upon them 
one hundred and two brick houses, and seven 
hundred aud sixty+four inhabitants, all fully 
employed; ‘and living’comfottably, where no 
human creature ever lived before.” 
Some extremély valuable facts by 
Lord Meadowbank, respecting the use 
of peat as a manure, are contained ‘in the 
second paper of the present volume. 
From this it appears that if three parts 
of peat and one of fresh farm-yard dung 
are mixed together, a general fermenta- 
tion of the whole mass ensues, and in the 
course of 2 few weeks it is converted 
into a black free mass like garden mould, 
which in a course of cropping is found 
to be fully equivalent to an equal weight 
of farm-yard dung. But the most ad- 
vantageous way of preparing peat is, 
first to weaken its texture by mixture with 
leaves, weeds, or any sort of litter, and 
then to expose it to the vapour of ani- 
mal. matter in a state of putreface 
tion. “In this way,” says Lord Mea- 
dowbank, “ the carcass of one dead horse, 
with sawings of timber and peat, pre- 
pared ten ton of manure in somewhat 
less than ten months, and it was turned 
over only once, and that at the beginni 
of the ninth month, when a small quan- 
tity of lime rubbish from an old ‘wall 
was added, in order to quicken the pre- 
paration.”’ 
Another valuable memoir by Dr. Wal- 
ker, entitled ‘“* Remarks on the Cattle 
and Corn of the Highlands” is contain- 
ed in this volume. Its interest however, 
being chiefly local, must be our excuse 
for taking no further notice of it. For 
the same reason we shall pass over some 
other papers by different correspondents, 
relative to the management of black’cat- 
tle on the Highland farms, and other . 
branches of rural economy peculiar to 
Scotland. 
Mr. Somerville of Haddington is the 
author of a paper concerning the ma- 
nagement of heath or heather, which is 
annually burnt in order to induce a crop 
of fresh shoots for the sheep. The pro 
per time for burning the heath is as early 
in the spring as possible; the old shoots 
are at this time almost sapless, and there- 
fore take fire readily ;. the roots are‘not 
injured, and the ashes serve very oppor- 
tunely as a manure and stimulus to the 
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