IMPROVEMENT OF PEAT LANDS. 37 



ject intended. Open drains are made, likewise, on Chat-Moss, so 

 as to include about an acre of land. 



It is well known that open drains are liable to be constantly 

 worn away by running water ; and the overhanging surface 

 breaks down by its own weight, and fills up the ditch. The 

 severe frosts which occur in the northern United States, and 

 which heave the ground deeply, and the sudden thaws which 

 are consequent upon them, do much to disturb and break up the 

 sides of open ditches. To guard against this as much as possi 

 ble, it is advised to make the top of the open ditches very wide, 

 and the slope of the sides very gradual. At Lord Ducie s model 

 farm, under the care of that highly intelligent and practical 

 farmer, Mr. John Morton, the slope to the drain (or the sides of 

 the main ditch) receded so far, and was made at so small an 

 angle of declination, that a cart might be driven upon it without 

 danger of overturning. In most cases this could be done only at 

 the expense of removing a large body of the peat. Whether 

 this might not be advantageously pared and burned, and the 

 ashes spread upon the land ; or made into piles, and, by a proper 

 intermixture with other matters, such as night-soil, stable ma 

 nure, or lime, be reduced into a fine enriching manure ; or carried 

 into the stable or fold-yard to increase the compost heap ; or, 

 otherwise, be dried and employed as fuel, must be left to the 

 judgment of every individual farmer, according to the circum 

 stances of the particular case. In such a mode of spreading 

 and forming an open drain, which declines gradually to the cen 

 tre, the very current of the water is a security against all inju 

 rious wear and tear of the sides ; and it is obvious, if the land is 

 devoted to grass, either in pasturage or mowing, it may be made 

 productive to the water s edge. Upon the beauty of the appear 

 ance of such easy slopes, when made with * the neatness and 

 exactness with which all such operations are performed here, in 

 Great Britain, I need not remark. The lines of all ditching and 

 draining here are made with mathematical precision, and are in 

 general as straight as they can be drawn. I am unwilling to say 

 where I have seen such operations performed in a way to induce 

 one to suppose that he who made them always walked back 

 wards, and, after starting, gave himself little concern however 

 zig-zag his course might be or at what point he should come 

 out. Many of us, it would seem, have yet to learn that the 



VOL. II. 4 



