re375 



FARMERS' REGISTER, 



4(55' 



nniuriil hisitory, in cheinistiy, aiid in njj;riciiltiire. 

 It vvoiilii probiilily discovor more period and easy 

 nudes or overconiin.'r tlie aiitiseplic qualities of 

 nu).*s-eartli, and ihcroby render it still more cfli- 

 cient as manure; and perhaps shovv vviiat sub- 

 stances operate most powerl'ully as manure to 

 a moss soil. 



Till such information can be procured, we must 

 content ourselves with that portion of Nnowled^e 

 to whicli we liave already atiained, and to which 

 we are daily addiuij, by well conducted experi- 

 ments. To retail the partial experiments, or at- 

 tempts at analysis ot" that substance, which have 

 been already laid betijre the [)ulilic, and in the 

 technical form in wliich they are generally given, 

 Could be of no use to the great body of" your rea- 

 ders, or that valuable class of men, the practical far- 

 mers, to whom we are to loolc lor the improvement 

 of" our extensive wastes. All that I shall attempt, 

 and indeed all that in my opinion can he useliil to 

 the cultivators of that species of soil, is merely to 

 name the qualities that are most perceptible to an 

 aoriculturist ; as, iuiflammabiliiy — acidity — insolu- 

 billly, or antiseptic quality — tenacity, <^c. 



1. Infiimmabilty, or the quality of catching and 

 bemg consumed by fire, which is Ibund in all sorts 

 of completely formed moss-earth, no doubt pro- 

 ceeds li-om one or other of these substances, which 

 chemists term simple inflammables ; as carbon, 

 sulphur and ph 'sphorus, with the binary com- 

 pounds into which they enter. 



To which of these the imflammnhilily of moss- 

 earth is to be chiefly imputed, has not probably 

 been well ascertained; and as the fict, of its being 

 hishly inflammable, is well known to all ranks; 

 and as further iufjuiries regarding that quality are 

 no way connected with its improvemeni as a cul- 

 tivate(l soil, it can serve noenfl to dwell on it here, 

 were \ even better qualified than I am to do jus- 

 tice to the subject. 



The plants which contribute to the formation of 

 moss-earth possess, when growing, no more in- 

 flammability than recent vegetables of any other 

 description. But, while the inflammabtlity of oth- 

 er vegetables is diminished in proportion as putre- 

 faction and decomposition advance, the plants 

 which compose moss-earth, kept together in a 

 mass, become more inflanmiable, in pronortion a.s 

 they have come under putrefacn'on, and a disso- 

 lution of the orrjanic texture. How nature con- 

 ducts these processes, so different in the putre- 

 faction of" difi'erent kinds of plants, has not, I be- 

 lieve, been jet ascertained, though the fi^ict can- 

 not be doubted. As there seems to be no materi- 

 al difference in the degree of inHammabilitv in all 

 kinds of plants, at the time they attain fall growth, 

 either the moss plants must, by some process in 

 nature different fjom those of other species, reiain 

 all their inflammability, when under putrelaction, 

 and only yiehi up the higreilients of adifferent na- 

 ture; while other plants first give up with that 

 quality, and retaui thoselhat are uninflammable; or 

 the former must attract and acquire inflammabirity, 

 asputreiaction advances, while the latter liaverio 

 such powers. Dr. Rennie thinks the inflamma- 

 bility of moss arises Irorn its retaining, while un- 

 der decomposition, a large portion of /M/(/rcig-en. 

 Bui Dr. .lamicson says, that many facts lea<l him 

 to conclude, thai the common peat is veoelaWe 

 matter, deprived nf a considerable purlidn of its 

 hydrogen. iMoss earih, however, soon loses much 

 Vol. V— 59 



of its inflanmiability when it is dug up. and long 

 exposed, separately from tlie general mass, to al- 

 ternate rains, droughts, frosts, thaws, &c.; but, if 

 dried when recenii) dug up, and kept dry, it will 

 liear to be exposed to the air lor centuries, with- 

 out losiiiiT any part of its inflammability. 



1 cannot concur in the opinion of Dr. Rennie,. 

 fi. 507 of his 'Essay,' that "moss is more inflani-- 

 maiile in proportion to the moisture it contains.'' 

 The reverse seems tome to be uniformly the case. 

 The more level that moss is, and the more mois- 

 ture it is laid under, the less valuable will it be as 

 pasture, as a cultivated soil, as manure to other 

 land, or as fuel. If the water is raised two or 

 three ft^ct over the surface, none of the plants 

 that have been named above can grow. Lake 

 plants, as the fotamageion nntans, Nymphcea lu- 

 tea et alba, ylrundo pliragmites, Scripvs lacustris, 

 u-ilisma planiagn, Pedicularis pah/sti'is, Sfc. are t he 

 ordinary plants that grow, till they accumulate in, 

 and fill up the lake to the surface. These Ibrm, 

 not properly moss, but a sort of lake turf, scarcely 

 inflammable or fit for fuel. If the surface is not 

 covered with water, but kept extremely wet, the 

 Sphagnum palustre, Polytrichon commune, and 

 Bryum hrjpnoides, will be the chief herbage. 

 These form a sort of light, fibrous, drab-colored 

 moss, that when dry. will catch fire and burn,' 

 but which is the least inflammable of all sorts of 

 peat, and scarcely deserves the name of fuel.. 

 From that state to the driest moss that is to be 

 met with; the desiree of inflammability is gradual'- 

 ly increased. Hill moss is too thin for being cut up' 

 lor peat; but bent moss, which has always as 

 much declivity as prevents water stagnating on 

 the surface, ibrma the best of all peats. One 

 square foot of the driest bent moss, will go far- 

 ther as fuel, than ten foot of the drab-colored peat 

 composed of sphagnum, and which has been form- 

 ed in a stank of water. In a word, moss-earth is 

 inflammable, and valuable as fuel, just in propor- 

 tion as it has been relieved of stagnant water. 



The trees that are found buried in moss, are not 

 inflanmiable in proportion to the progress that pu- 

 trefiiction lias made upon them, as some have as- 

 serted, but the reverse. The rotten birch trees, 

 and those parts of the oaks that are most com- 

 [iletely dissolved, will kindle and burn; but they 

 do not make nearly so good fuel as the firs, and 

 the more solid parts of the oaks, that have not 

 yielded so much to putrefaction. 



2. Acidity in moss is evidenced by its smell 

 when newly dug; by the pungent acrid odor of 

 peat smoke; the smell of clothes, or any thing 

 that has remained lonirin a house where peats are 

 used as fuel, the i)ain felt in their eyes by peo-- 

 ;ile going among the smoke of peals, who are 

 not accustomed to breathe in such an atmosphere.- 

 Some have termed it the gallic acid, some the su- 

 beric; and others have mentioned the carbonic, 

 the acetic, and the svlpharic acids, as abounding 

 in moss-earth, &c. But, as Dr. Rennie justly 

 observes though the acidity of moss is abundantly 

 obvious, the pailiciilar acid found in it has not yet 

 been sufficiently ascertained: and probably difler- 

 ent acids may he trailed in different mosses. 



All that seems necessarv for the hiisbandmnfti 

 to know, is that moss contains a considerable por- 

 tion of some acid or other. Whichever of the 

 kinds it may be, lime will neutralize it, and convert 

 it into manme; and the destruction of the acid by 



