46 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE. 



couragements in the undertaking. This was, however, in truth. 

 the creation of so much land for cultivation, of which the bog 

 might he said to form merely the floor, or substratum. In the 

 cultivation of the land, portions of the bog would be brought up 

 and mixed with the soil which had been laid upon it, and both 

 would be improved. Such enterprises as these, undertaken by 

 an individual, indicate the great amount of capital which exists 

 in this country, ready to be applied when it may be advanta 

 geously brought out. 



There was another operation, in the way of improving bog or 

 meadow, by the application of loam or clay, which I saw on my 

 way to examine the one described. It was on a small scale, 

 indeed, compared with that, yet, for the mode in which the 

 earth or clay was conveyed on to the bog, was quite deserving 

 of notice. The earth or clay to be applied was dug from a 

 bank or side-hill, on the margin of the bog. Cars or carts were 

 made, about four and a half or five feet long by about three feet 

 in width ; and these were so contrived as to run upon two 

 wheels, placed very near to each other under the centre of the 

 carriage, and so fitted as to preserve the balance of the cart. In 

 this way they were made to run easily upon a single rail, formed, 

 by a flat bar of iron, or two bars placed very near each other, 

 upon a thick plank, a foot or fifteen inches in width. This, it is 

 obvious, was easily removed by hand from place to place, and, 

 once being laid flat, required no further adjustment ; whereas a 

 railroad of two separate rails, on separate pieces of timber, re 

 quires a good deal of arrangement in order to bring the two rails 

 even. In the case of which I am now speaking, the carts were 

 guided by hand ; and. upon being emptied, were shoved back 

 again by hand, in order to be filled. The softest bog, which 

 had any consistency, could be easily reached in this way, and 

 the simplicity and inexpensiveness of the operation seemed quite 

 worthy of remark, because within the reach of persons of very 

 limited means.* 



* I find, since writing the above, that a similar process was adopted, in reclaim 

 ing Chat-Moss, by the distinguished Mr. Roscoe. in 1797. 



&quot; Mr. Roscoe gave it as his decided opinion, that the best method of improving 

 moss-land is that of the application of a calcareous substance, in sufficient quan 

 tity to convert the moss into a soil, and by the occasional use of animal, or other 

 extraneous manures, such as the course of cultivation, and the nature of the crops, 



