Book III. IMPROVING BOGS, &c. 677 



by paring and burning; by fallow and liming; or by trenching or deep ploughing. Vast 

 improvements on different sorts of moory lands have been made in Yorkshire, where there 

 are immense tracts of moors. It is stated in Tlie Agricultural Report of the North Riding 

 of Yorkshire, that an improvement was made upon Lockton moor, on a quantity of land 

 of about seventy acres, which would not let for more than Is. per acre, before it was 

 enclosed. Of this forty-eight acres were pared and burnt, and sown with rape, except 

 about an acre sown with rye ; the produce about sixty quarters. The rye grew very 

 strong, and in height not less than six feet, and was sold, while standing, for five guineas 

 the acre. The land was only once ploughed, otherwise the crop of rape would pro- 

 bably have been much better. One hundred and twenty chaldrons (each thirty-two bushels) 

 of lime were ploughed into the field; which, for want of more frequent ploughing, 

 probably was not of the service it otherwise might have been. Part of the land was 

 afterwards sown down with oats and grass seeds ; the former of which afforded but a 

 moderate crop, the latter a very good one, and has since produced two loads, 120 stones 

 each, per acre. The seeds sown were rye-grass, rib-grass, white clover, and trefoil ; of 

 these, the first succeeded amazingly, the others not so well ; potatoes throve very well ; 

 turnips not equal to them. A farm-house has been built upon it, which now, along with 

 five acres more of the same kind of land, is let on lease at thirty pounds per annum. The 

 soil consisted, in general, of benty peat, upon red gritstone, with a mixture of clay upon 

 limestone; this last is, in some places, at a considerable depth, in others, suflficiently near 

 the surface for lime to be burnt on the premises. 



Sect. V. Of Peat Mosses, Bogs, and Morasses, and their Improvement. 



. 4183. Mossy and boggy surfaces occupy a very considerable portion of the British isles. 

 In Ireland alone there are of flat red bog, capable of being converted to the general pur- 

 poses of agriculture, 1,576,000 acres; and of peat soil, covering mountains, capable of 

 being improved for pasture, or beneficially applied to the purposes of plantation, 

 1,255,000 acres, making together nearly three millions of acres. Mossy lands, whether 

 on mountains or plains, are of two kinds ; the one black and solid, the other spongy, con- 

 taining a great quantity of water, with a proportion of fibrous materials. 



4184. Black mosses, though formerly considered irreclaimable, are now found capable 

 6f great melioration. By cultivation, they may be completely changed in their quality 

 and appearance ; and from a peaty, become a soft vegetable earth of great fertility. 

 They may be converted into pasture ; or, after being thoroughly drained, thriving plan- 

 tations may be raised upon them ; or, under judicious management, they will produce 

 crops of grain and roots ; or, they may be formed into meadow-land of considerable 

 value. 



4185. Flow, fluid, or spongy mosses, abound in various parts of the British isles. Such 

 mosses are sometimes from ten to twenty feet deep, and even more, but the average may 

 be stated at from four to eight. In high situations, their improvement is attended with 

 so much expense, and the returns are so scanty, that it is advisable to leave them in their 

 original state ; but where' advantageously situated, it is now proved that they may be 

 profitably converted into arable land, or valuable meadow. If they are not too high 

 above the level of the sea, arable crops may be successfully cultivated. Potatoes, and 

 other green crops, where manure can be obtained, may likewise be raised on them with 

 advantage. 



4186. Peat is certainly a production, capable of administering to the support of many 

 valuable kinds of plants. But to effect this purpose, it must be reduced to such a state, 

 either by the application of fire, or the infiuence of putrefaction, as may prepare it for 

 their nourishment. In either of these ways, peat may be changed into a soil fit for the 

 production of grass, of herbs, or of roots. The application of a proper quantity of 

 lime, chalk, or marl, prepares it equally well for the production of corn. (Code.) 



4187. The fmdamentul improvement of all peat soils is drainage, which alone will in 

 a few years change a boggy to a grassy surface. After being drained, the surface may 

 be covered with earthy materials, pared and burned, fallowed, dug, trenched, or rolled. 

 The celebrated Duke of Bridgewater covered a part of Chatmoss, with the refuse of 

 coal-pits, a mixture of earths and stones of different qualities and sizes, which were 

 brought in barges out of the interior of a mountain j and, by compressing the sur- 

 face, enabled it to bear pasturing stock. Its fertility was promoted by the vegetable 

 mould of the morass, which presently rose and mixed with the heavier materials which 

 were spread upon it. {Marshal on Landed Property, p. 46.) 



4188. The fenny grounds of Huntingdonshire are in some cases improved by applying 

 marl to the surface. Where that substance is mixed with the fen soil, the finer grasses 

 florish beyond what they do on the fen soil unmixed; and when the mixed soil is 

 ploughed, and sown with any sort of grain, the calcareous earth renders the crops less 

 apt to fall down, the produce is greater, and the grain of better quality than on any other 

 part of the land. {Huntingdonshire Report, p. 301.) 



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