IMPROVEMENT OF PEAT LANDS. 51 



and preventive of decay. The limit, however, is not defined. 

 Others think that the advantage of salt is to be found in its ab 

 sorption of moisture from the air. This seems a highly probable 

 advantage in the case referred to, as peat lands, when thoroughly 

 drained, are liable to suffer from drought ; and the good effects 

 of guano are supposed to be considerably affected by the pres 

 ence of moisture. Salt is certainly conducive to the destruction 

 of insects. In a manuscript lecture of Dr. Play fair, with the 

 perusal of which he has kindly obliged me, in speaking of com 

 mon salt as a fertilizer, he says, &quot; Liebig ascribes its action to a 

 decomposition of the sulphate of lime in soils, by which sulphate 

 of soda enters into the plant. Without hazarding an opinion as 

 to the truth of this view, I would simply remark that, if this be 

 so, salt should act most beneficially on the cereals and on the 

 leguminous plants, because they are the great generators of the 

 constituents of blood, gluten, albumen, and casein ; and these 

 are the parts of plants for which sulphur is absolutely neces 

 sary.&quot; These conjectures, to whatever credit they may be en 

 titled for their ingenuity, seem little else than floundering in the 

 dark. The day may presently dawn upon us. It is clearly ad 

 visable and wise to draw the curtain back and let in what little 

 light may come. This little word &quot;if&quot; is certainly one of the 

 most convenient words in the language, and performs, in science, 

 a similar office to &quot; charity &quot; in morals - that of covering a mul 

 titude of errors. 



The example given above, of the application of guano to peat, 

 and its salutary effects, is the only one which has come to my 

 knowledge. This extraordinary manure seems destined to pro 

 duce the most beneficial effects upon agriculture. What a pity 

 it is that we cannot induce these useful birds to make their 

 home among us, and save us the trouble and danger of a voyage 

 round Cape Horn ! But they know our savage propensities too 

 well ; and, if the doctrine of transmigration be true, they may 

 have heard the story of the avaricious gourmand, who killed the 

 goose that laid the golden egg. 



11. CROPPING OF PEAT LANDS. The course of cropping of 

 peat lands, in this country, is somewhat variable. In the fens 

 of Lincolnshire, which, though peaty, can hardly be treated as 

 bog. an eminent farmer states that, the land being brought into 



