38 



EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE. 



most perfect mode of doing a thing is ultimately found to be 

 the best mode, though, in the beginning, it may be neither the 

 quickest nor the cheapest. There may be, in some cases, an 

 extreme or excessive particularity or precision ; and we are 

 often told of people who are more nice than wise, though I have 

 not found this class very numerous ; but the exceptions may 

 serve only to prove the value of the rule. 



Farmers are not entirely agreed as to the degree to which the 

 water, in draining, should be taken off. Some persons contend 

 that the land should be rendered as dry as practicable, while 

 others maintain that it is quite enough to reduce the level of the 

 water to a depth of three feet below the surface, and that the 

 land will be benefited by the presence of water at such a level, 

 as it will serve to keep the soil moist I suppose, by capillary 

 attraction, and by evaporation. There seems to be some reason 

 in this argument ; and it is conformable to the opinion and prac 

 tice of one of the best farmers whom I know. It perhaps admits 

 of one qualification. If the water of the meadow is strongly 

 impregnated with iron, or some mineral acid, as may in general 

 be easily discovered from its rusty or colored appearance, its 

 presence may be injurious to the roots of the growing plants. If 

 it is clear or running water, it is obviously not liable to the same 

 objection. By most farmers, however, it is recommended to 

 make the ditches deep rather than numerous. 



I shall return presently to the subject of drainage, and now 

 proceed to speak of other processes customary in the improve 

 ment of peat land. 



2. PARING AND BURNING. The land being drained, the next 

 process usually advised is to pare and burn the surface, and 

 spread the ashes. This practice is not without its opponents. 

 If the land is to be covered, as I saw in one case, with six or 

 eight inches of mud or soil, the removal of the coarse vegetable 

 matter from the surface would be an unnecessary, and perhaps 

 some would think, a wasteful process ; for, under such a mass 

 of soil, its decomposition would be, though slowly, yet certainly 

 effected. But where a sufficient covering is not intended to be 

 applied to accomplish this purpose, the expediency of paring and 

 burning the surface is, in my opinion, determined. There is 

 always a largo amount of the coarsest vegetation, which, if 



