IMPROVEMENT OF PEAT LANDS. 45 



product ivenesSj at least 100 per cent., by applying to the surface 

 of the peat the clay which is found at depths varying from two 

 to five feet below it. The application is made thus : Trenches 

 parallel to one another are made eleven yards apart, and three 

 feet wide down to the clay ; and then two feet in depth of the 

 clay is thrown out, one half on each side. The effect of this, 

 after the second year, is greatly to increase the productiveness 

 of the soil ; in many cases, to double it.&quot; * 



7. APPLICATION OF MUD OR LOAM. There is another appli 

 cation to the improvement of peat soils, of mud or loam, which 

 is, of course, beneficial. An example of this kind, which I vis 

 ited at Hatfield Chase, in Yorkshire, is so remarkable for the 

 boldness of the enterprise, that I must not fail to notice it. Mr. 

 Gossip, having purchased 4000 acres of peat bog, in its natural 

 condition comparatively worthless, has undertaken the reclaiming 

 of it. In the neighborhood was the deserted bed of a river, 

 which had been laid dry by the making of a canal, into which 

 the waters had been turned ; and a deep body of silt, or rich 

 mud, deposited in the river, was now rendered accessible. By 

 constructing a temporary railroad, on which a steam-engine 

 was at work, he was drawing out in carts this mud, and spread 

 ing it eight inches thick over the bog. The carts were drawn 

 up an inclined plane by means of the steam-power, and were 

 then carried along to the place of deposit, and their contents 

 spread so as to cover the ground to the depth of eight inches. 

 The rails on which the engine and its train of carts moved were 

 formed by two pieces of heavy timber, on which an iron bar, 

 forming the rail, was laid ; and, by a machine or crane, suspended 

 from a frame or triangle, these timbers were taken up as occasion 

 required, and, being suspended, Avere swung round and placed 

 in the desired direction for the carts to proceed upon. The cost 

 of covering the land in this way was stated to be 14, or $70, 

 per acre ; but. when accomplished, an ample remuneration seemed 

 sure. It was, indeed, a gigantic enterprise ; and the spirited im 

 prover had bravely overcome many immense difficulties and dis- 



* This is an extract from a letter of Mr. Morton to Philip Pusey, Esq., M. P., 

 given in Mr. Pusey s admirable Essay on the Improvement of Peaty Ground. 

 Journal of Royal Agricultural Society, vol. ii, part 3. 



