PEATY SOIL. 411 



nature of its formation under the surface of water, it acquires a 

 portion of tannin, which has the property of preserving animal 

 and vegetable matter from decomposition.&quot; It may be, likewise, 

 that the species of plants of which, in general, these preserved 

 plants are composed, being of an aquatic nature, they do not 

 form the most suitable nourishment to plants of a different 

 description. I speak in this case according to the vulgar appre 

 hension of the manner in which plants are fed, well knowing 

 that the received doctrine is, that the organic portions of plants 

 are obtained wholly from the atmosphere, and that the soil 

 supplies only their mineral ingredients. Yet it must be ad 

 mitted that, in ordinary cases, the fertility of a soil essentially 

 corresponds to the amount of vegetable matter found in it, 

 whether it supplies, in any degree, the actual substance of the 

 plant, or, by its gradual decay, be merely the vehicle of transmit 

 ting for its nourishment the gases out of which its substance is 

 to be composed. It is certain, however, whatever may be the 

 philosophical reason in the case, that pure unmanufactured peat 

 does not form a nourishing soil or substance for plants, other 

 than those to which a wet soil is particularly congenial, and that 

 it cannot be made so, but under a particular management, which 

 I shall presently describe. The vegetable matter of which peat 

 consists, being once thoroughly reduced, and mixed with other 

 substances of an alkaline character, is rendered a most enriching 

 manure for most kinds of land, though a much less substantial 

 one than is generally supposed. One of its great uses is that 

 of an absorbent, taking up the liquid matters which would other 

 wise be lost. 



Immense bogs have been redeemed, and brought into a state 

 of productive cultivation, in England ; and, of late, these improve 

 ments have been going on with greater success than usual. In 

 Ireland, such improvements have proceeded to a great extent, 

 and the Waste-Land Improvement Company have at this time, 

 in one place, five thousand acres of bog in the process of im 

 provement. This place I had the pleasure to visit, and shall 

 presently speak of what has been, and what is proposed to be, 

 accomplished. The peat-bog, under favorable circumstances, as 

 I have seen in the United States, as well as in England, may be 

 rendered in the highest degree productive and profitable. The 

 bog of salt marshes is of a different character from the fresh 



