SUBDUING THE LAND 13! 



or where it is so dry that there is danger of burning pit 

 holes in the peat, much force and labor are required to 

 pull the trees and stumps out and pile them up for burn- 

 ing. Some care is necessary to avoid burning large piles 

 of wood on peaty soils, as the fire may make the peat 

 beneath so hot and dry that a pit will be burned out, 

 and a fire thus started can often only be extinguished 

 with great difficulty. In peaty lands which are used 

 for pastures, and in some which are used for meadows, 

 the slow process of decay may be allowed to remove 

 stumps and roots. When the peat is drained, and air 

 takes the place of part of the water among the particles 

 of peat, decay goes on rapidly. This is in a large part 

 due to the presence of the myriads of bacteria which 

 thrive in the drier soil and help to decompose the organic 

 matter. 



Burning the surface peat as a means of getting rid of 

 the coarse, unrotted, recently formed moss and other 

 forms of plant life, and of securing a finer soil in the 

 better decayed deeper and older peat in which to plant 

 crops, is important. The upper 6 to 10 inches of newly 

 drained peaty land is usually a loose mass of moss and 

 may in some instances be burned off. 



Solidifying by pasturing. Where it is impracticable 

 to burn off or to otherwise remove the surface moss 

 before sowing tame grass seed, it is difficult to secure 

 a stand of grasses or clovers. In many instances where 

 one is in no haste to subdue fully the peaty land, 

 an advantage is gained by having animals pasture on 

 it, and thus compact the peat by tramping. Animals 

 may be encouraged to roam over the fields by sowing 

 such pasture plants as red-top, timothy and alsike clover. 

 This compacting prevents the development of sphagnum 

 or other mosses and forms the surface into a soil-like 

 condition, thus giving the grasses a better chance to 

 thrive. 



