206 SCIENCE IN" SHORT CHAPTERS. 



" And here I will make a remark as to the effects of drain- 

 age in a wet country. By no means does the whole effect 

 result from raising the temperature of the soil ; there is some- 

 thing else as important, and that is the supply of ammonia, 

 brought down from the skies in the rain, which, with other 

 fertilizing matter, is caught, detained, and absorbed in the soil. 

 A well-drained field becomes, in fact, just like a water-meadow 

 I over which a river flows for a part of a year ; and thus the very 

 wetness of the climate may be made to reduce the supply of 

 amrnoniacal manures, so expensive to buy. 



** The porous, well-drained soil carries quickly off the super- 

 fluous moisture, while the ammonia is absorbed by the roots 

 and leaves of the plants. An excessive bill for amrnoniacal 

 manures has been the ruin of many a farmer ; and our aim in 

 Ireland should be to secure good crops by thorough drainage 

 and constant stirring of the soil, without much outlay for con- 

 centrated manures. At the same time, I ought to remark that 

 we have grown excellent potatoes by using 5 worth per acre 

 of superphosphate and nitrate of soda in cases in which our 

 farmyard manure has fallen short. 



" The reclamation of mountain-land as distinguished from 

 bog-land can best be illustrated by a record of what has been 

 accomplished on two farms here. Three years ago the leases 

 of two upland farms fell in, and I took them into my own 

 hands. The flrst consists of 600 acres, one half a nearly level flat 

 of decpish bog running alongside the river, the other half moor 

 heath, which with difficulty supported a few sheep and cattle. 



" There had never been any buildings on this land, nor had 

 a spade ever been put into it ; and the tenant, being unable to 

 pay his rent of 15 a year for the 600 acres, was glad to 

 give it up for a moderate consideration. The first thing ac- 

 complished was to fence and drain thoroughly as before de- 

 scribed, and the best half of the land was then divided into 

 forty-acre fields. Exactly now two years ago on September 

 loth a little cottage and a stable for a pair of horses and a 

 pair of bullocks was completed and tenanted by two men and a 

 boy. They ploughed all the week and came home on Satur- 

 days to draw their supply of food and fodder for the ensuing 

 seven days, thus approximating very nearly to the position of 

 settlers in a new country. We limed all the land we could, 

 manured part of it with seaweed and part with the farm- 

 manure made by the horses and oxen which were at work, and 

 cropped with roots such as turnips and potatoes. A good por- 



