42 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE. 



engine, found that a thick top-dressing of sand improved the 

 pasture more than lime, or any other dressing which he had tried. 



6. APPLICATION OF CLAY, OR MARL. But one of the great im 

 provers of peat land is clay, or marl. By marl, in this case, will 

 be understood a substance composed of clay and lime, or a soft, 

 unctuous earth, which indicates the presence of lime by its effer 

 vescing with acids. This, so far as my observation or knowl 

 edge goes, has been found invariably beneficial. A simple 

 dressing of clay, to the depth of two inches, has given a desired 

 compactness to the soil, and by degrees has, in the progress of 

 cultivation, converted the dry, fibrous, and spongy matter into a 

 rich black loam. This is represented to have been the effect 

 upon the Lincolnshire fens, which have been repeatedly clayed 

 or marled, though I saw small indications, although they are 

 represented as peat, of that coarse, fibrous, light, and spongy 

 character, which, by way of eminence, goes under that name, 

 and which constitutes, it is said, nearly three million acres of the 

 surface of Ireland. 



In many cases of peat bog there is found, underlaying the 

 peat or turf at varying distances, a substratum of clay or marl. 

 By taking this out of pits, or out of the ditches which are dug 

 for the purpose of draining the land, and spreading it on the 

 surface to the depth of two or three inches, the best results fol 

 low. The soil is brought into a condition for cultivation. It is 

 comminuted, or decomposed, and made fine ; it is rendered com 

 pact : it retains that degree of moisture which is useful to vege 

 tation, and furnishes a tenacious substratum for the roots of the 

 growing plant. Its chemical effects may be considerable ; but as 

 yet these are rather conjectural than ascertained.* 



virtues, it will not be deemed misplaced that I here record the humble tribute of 

 my grateful and most sincere respect. 



&quot; His saltern accumulem donis, et 

 Fungar inani munere. &quot; 



* It may be interesting to my readers to have the opinions of Mr. Anderson, of 

 Scotland, on the Uses of Lirne in Agriculture, whose essay on this subject was 

 rewarded, by that distinguished body, the Highland and Agricultural Society, 

 with a prize often sovereigns. 



&quot; Of the leguminous crops, we may say unhesitatingly, from what we have 

 observed, that they cannot be cultivated with any success without the previous 

 application of lime, unless where abundance of native calcareous matter exists in 



