IMPROVEMENT OF PEAT LANDS. 49 



which they come out of the marl pit, and out of the middens, 

 the marl being pulverized and spread pretty equally on the sur 

 face of the land, after it has fallen to pieces by influence of the 

 frost and the sun. 



(8.) How many years or seasons since the application was first 

 made ? The estate has been in my hands twenty-five years, 

 and during that time it has been progressively improving. The 

 marl requires to be renewed about every ten or twelve years ; 

 and the other manures as upon other land. 



9. DEPTH OF PLOUGHING ON PEAT SOILS. On the depth of 

 ploughing or cultivation, to be adopted in respect to peat soils, a 

 diversity of opinion prevails among the English farmers. Where 

 the depth of peat is small, and this overlaying a hungry, cold, 

 white gravel, to bring this matter to the surface, and bury the 

 vegetable matter beneath it, is to pronounce a sentence of long 

 and almost hopeless barrenness upon it. Where the peat is 

 deep, and the top is pared and burned, many farmers are satisfied 

 with simply harrowing or scarifying it, and sowing the first crop. 

 Where the land has been pared and burned, and a dressing of 

 clay or marl applied, it will be safe to go deeper with the culti 

 vation. Here, however, the course to be pursued must be reg 

 ulated by circumstances. If the crop to be grown is a grain or 

 grass crop, it is not necessary to cultivate as deeply as in the 

 case of a potato or turnip crop, or of any tap-rooted vegetable. 

 The great danger to be apprehended, in the cultivation of peat, 

 is, that it will lie too high and open, and not be sufficiently 

 compact. Mere rolling will not bring it to a proper consistency, 

 and consequently it is, after being sowed, often trodden by men 

 and women. This method is not likely to be adopted in the 

 United States. If the land is to be sowed with grain, or laid 

 down to permanent grass, either for mowing or pasturage, and 

 has been well dressed and manured, it is advisable to plough 

 only so deeply as thoroughly to intermix the matter so applied 

 with the peat. The roots of the plant sown in such case, ex 

 tending themselves into the peat, will dissolve and reduce it : 

 and when it comes, after a while, to be cultivated for other 

 crops, it will be found in a fine and reduced state. This fact 

 has been strikingly verified within my own observation. In a 

 case where a deep salt marsh, a bed of almost pure fibrous mat- 

 VOL. IT. 5 



