HARVESTING THE PEAT. 



805 



East Germany to remove the useless superficial turf and sods 

 of earth. A three-pronged fork resembling an ordinary dung- 



Fig. iV.it). Fig. iV.ll. Fig. M2. 



Implements used for digging peat. 



Fig. 



fork is used generally for putting the turves into barrows or 

 carts for transport. 



In i i Turves. 



There are two methods of digging turves, termed respectively 

 the horizontal and vertical methods. The former method is 

 almost universally employed in North Germany, and is common 

 in the Rhenish Provinces and South Germany. The vertical 

 method is practised in some Upper Bavarian bogs and in the 

 Baltic provinces. In the horizontal method, a workman 

 beginning at the top edge of the wall of peat, cuts the vertical 

 lines of a turf with the Frisian spade, whilst another workman 

 standing in the trench, cuts the turf horizontally and sideways 

 from the bank of peat. 



In the vertical method, the workman standing on the top 

 of the bank of peat cuts each turf free by one vertical or 

 slightly oblique stroke of the spade (Fig. 391) and tears it off 



