806 DIGGING AND PREPARATION OF PEAT. 



from below, raising it with the same spade on to the bank of 

 turf. As by this method the turf is broken off above and 

 below, it has not a regular cubical shape; control is thus 

 rendered more difficult, while there is more refuse from 

 crumbling than in the horizontal method. At the same time 

 the vertical method is less laborious and cheaper than the 

 other. According to the skill of the workmen and the diffi- 

 culty of cutting the peat, with horizontal cutting, 3,000 to 

 5,000 turves may be cut in a day, and with vertical cutting 

 under favourable circumstances 6,000 to 7,000 turves. The 

 vertical method is obligatory whenever the bog is insufficiently 

 drained. 



Before beginning to cut the turves the topmost layer of soil 

 must be dug up in sods, as long or double the length of the 

 turves, by means of the Frisian spade, or the spade shown in 

 Fig. 393 ; these sods should be removed from the bog in 

 wheelbarrows or carts. 



The methods of cutting turves also vary, in the case of 

 either horizontal or vertical cutting, according as the peat- 

 bank is cut in continuous or alternate strips. 



When the turves are cut in continuous strips, a commence- 

 ment is made on the longer side of the area marked out for 

 the year's cutting, and strip after strip of peat is removed until 

 the work has been completed. In this case, the work going on 

 continuously down to the bed of the bog, there is either a 

 vertical bank of peat left, or this bank may be in steps and the 

 work proceed by cutting first from the top-most step, then 

 from the second step, and so on. In this case the turves are 

 removed from the bog as soon as they are cut, so as to leave 

 room for the workmen to dig. 



When the turves are cut in alternate strips, they are 

 stacked close to the cut, like a wall, the strip on which they 

 stand being left uncut and a new strip commenced imme- 

 diately beyond it. In this case also, a deep bog cannot be at 

 once cut to its full depth, but the work must be done in two 

 operations. As soon as the stacked turves are dry and have 

 been removed, the work of cutting the intermediate strips is 

 undertaken. 



Cutting in alternate strips is cheaper than in continuous 



