462 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



[No. 8 



the purpose of presenting to our readers the best trea- j For the purpose of laying before our readers the 

 tise of drainino- known, in its latest and most perfect two works above named as soon, and each as much in 



form, and of which very few copies even of the early ' 

 and less perfect editions have ever reached this side of 

 the Atlantic. The new English edition is in quarto, 

 and cost f6 in England, and would scarcely be furnish- 

 ed by booksellers here, importing at their own risk, at 

 much less than $10. We shall republish the whole, in 

 about 90 pages of the Farmers' Register, and at a cost 

 to our subscribers of about 65 cents. A few hundred 

 copies will be also piinted separately, for gratuitous 

 distribution and for sale— but without any expectation 

 being entertained that this separate publication will 

 yield any direct profit— as such a result would be dif- 

 ferent fi-om any heretofore obtained by us, from any 

 such separate publication. 



The first edition of this treatise consisted principally 

 of the account of Elkington's system of draining, 

 which was referred to in Washington's correspondence 

 with Sinclair, and in various other parts of the Farmers' 

 Register. The present edition presents the same in"a 

 much improved form, with the addition of much other 

 kindred and valuable matter. The first publication 

 was drawn up by Jolinstone by order of the British 

 Board of Agriculture ; and by the recommendation of 

 that body, a parliamentary grant of £ 1000 sterling was 

 made to Elkington, on account of his valuable discovery. 

 As a suitable introduction to a treatise on draining 

 which has reference principally to peat, moss, or bog 

 soils, we shall first give Alton's essay on this very pe- 

 culiar (and in this country very rare) kind of soil. 

 The information furnished by this piece will be highly 

 interesting to all who study agriculture as a general 

 science, and not merely as a body of recipes, applica- 

 ble only in local and particular practices ; and even if 

 there was not a peat soil in this and the more southern 

 parts of the United States, (as we had believed until 

 our recent examination of the Dismal Swamp,) there is 

 much in regard to the nature and phenomena of peat 

 soils, from which a thinking agriculturist may profita- 

 bly make deductions, that will apply to other soils, and 

 to their fitness or unfitness for improvement. Alton's 

 Essay on this subject attracted our attention and in- 

 terest many years ago, and it would, long before this 

 time, have been transferred to the pages of the Far- 

 mer's Register, but for the consideration of the very 

 prevalent (and often groundless) objection of most 

 readers to the discussion of subjects which are not ap- 

 plicable in practice. Such objections might have been 

 formerly made, in our view of the subject, as then en- 

 tertained — but not now, when it is known that even as 

 far south as Virginia, there are many thousands of 

 acres of peat soil, and probably still more in North 

 Carolina, among the vast swamps, for the draining of 

 which the legislature oi that state has lately instituted 

 measures, and made liberal appropriations. The pro- 

 per and full knowledge of peat soils, and of their chemi- 

 cal constitution, may possibly save to North Carolina 

 the loss of half of the .$'200,000 appropriated by law 

 for this noble object. 



The foregoing remarks were in type for the last 

 sheet of the November number, but were excluded to 

 make way for other communications. 



connexion, as possible, and at the same time not to fall 

 in arrear as to communications of con-espondents, and 

 newer selected articles of immediate interest, the two 

 next numbers will be issued in the course of one month. 



Ed. Far. Reg. 



From the Farmer's Magazine. 

 ON THE ORIGIN, QUALITIES, AND USES OF 



MOSS [or peat] earth. 



By William Aiton, Writer, Strathaven. 



No, I. 



Strathaven, 20th June, 1811. 



Sir — The celebrity which your Magazine has 

 so justly acquired, and the great extent of its cir- 

 culation, renders it the most proper channel through 

 which I can attempt to direct the views of my 

 countrymen to a branclvof agriculture, which, I 

 humbly think, has not yet met with attention any 

 way suitable to its vast importance — I mean the 

 reclaiming of waste land, particularly that part of 

 it which is covered with moss earth. If we con- 

 sider the prodigious extent of surface now covered 

 with moss-earth in Scotland, and the injurious 

 effects which it has upon the climate, the subject 

 will not appear unworthy of serious consideration. 

 Unless an actual survey were made, it is nor. 

 possible to speak with any sort of accuracy as to 

 the extent either of that species ol soil, or of 

 other descriptions of waste land in Scotland. The 

 Board of Agriculture, on the authority of county 

 surveys, and other inlbrmation considered to be 

 correct, stated the waste land in North Britain, 

 some years ago, at upwards of fourteen millions 

 of acres. But from the investigations and sur- 

 veys which I have made on that subject, to ena- 

 ble me to draw up a rough draught of the chap- 

 ter on wastelands, in the General Report to belaid 

 by the Board, before the King and both Houses 

 Parliament, I am inclined to estimate the waste 

 land in Scodand at upwards of twenty millions of 

 acres; and that a ve.'-y large proportion of that 

 species of land is covered more or less with moss- 

 earth. The recovery of even a small part of 

 these extensive wastes must, therelbre be a mat- 

 ter of great importance, not only to the proprie- 

 tors and occupiers of such land, but also to the 

 public. 



The injurious effects which such vastly extend- 

 ed ranges of uncultivated moss-earth have upon 

 the atmosphere, by the chilling damps that they 

 send forth, which lower its temperature, and be- 

 numb vegetation in the neighboring fields, ren- 

 der the subject deserving of notice, and ought to 

 stimulate proprietors to make every exertion to 

 remove these injurious elfect by cultivation. 



Leaving the other species of waste land to be 

 noticed in some future communication, I shall of- 

 jer a Icivv remarks, 1. On the origin, 2. On tne 

 qualities, 3. On the uses ot moss-earth, and, 4. 

 Mention a few instances of successful moss-cul- 

 ture in different parts of Scotland and England. 



1. On the origin and classification of Moss. 



This subject having been in some measure ex- 

 plained, in the answers written by me to some 



