458 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



[No. 8 



1. Moss is, next :o coal or wi.o.l, ilie Iiest fuel 

 yet disi-overed. VVlitre either oi' the turmer can 

 ^be obtained, it will seldom be used; but vviiere 

 these are not plenty, or far distant, peat, is the 

 best siibslilule. 



The mode of cutting and (hyin<]j peats is so 

 well known to every laborer in all parts of Scot- 

 land, that it would be trespussinii' upon your pa- 

 tience to s|)end time in describinu; it. Except in 

 .some parts of Galloway, where moss fir tor fuel is 

 scarce, the mode of bakinir peals, so common in 

 Ireland, is not known in Scotland. The superior 

 qiialjty of the peat, however, in some measure 

 indemnifies the adilitional labor. 



The o'reatest improvement that I could suirf^est 

 in the manajjement of peats, would be to erect 

 shades to keep them in durinjx winter. When 

 set up in the ordinary way, in stacks, alfoirether 

 without cover, every heavy shower renders thern 

 unfit, for a time, to be used as fuel. When a 

 course of rainy weather happens, it becomes ex- 

 tremely difficult to ii!;et the cookery f^)r the family 

 carried on with peats; while the smoke which 

 they emir, fills and darkens the house in which 

 they are burnt; and every time that peals are wet- 

 ted and dried, their adhesive texrnre is so much 

 loosened, and rheir inflammabiiily, and durability 

 as fuel, diminished. 



A shade to hold peats for one year, mio-ht be 

 formed of couples of an old house, or other old 

 limber, which is frequently left to rot, and thatch- 

 ed with heather, broom, or rushes, in the time 

 that the farmer and his servants spend at races, 

 fiiirs, roups, &c. where they have no interestioij 

 bi]siness; or in the time they are employed build- 

 ing the peats into a stack. It ou^ht to be so con- 

 structed, as to adufit acurrent of air to pass through 

 the shade. 



2. Moss-ground is used as pasture, chiefiv for 

 sheep stock. The improvement that seems prac- 

 ticable on this species of pasture is, to adjust the 

 quantity of moisture, and to provide shelter for 

 the stock. 



By far the greatest part of the sheep-walks in 

 Scotland, composed of moss, are greatly injured 

 by being overcliarged with moisture, wiiich ban- 

 ishes the valuable grasses, and raises the moss- 

 fogs; and the sheep are much hurt, and fretpjent- 

 ly drowned in the gutters. To remedy these 

 evils, the whole moss-ground ought to be surfiice- 

 drained. The mode of doing so with spades is 

 well known. Perhaps some part of it mighr, in 

 fiivorable situations, he executed bv the plough. 



By opening the surface drains where necessary, 

 the value of the pasture mav frequently be more 

 than doubled — the growth of flow-moss retarded — 

 the moss consolidated and pre|iared for more im- 

 proved culture — the climate bettered, and ihe con- 

 dition of the stock jjreatly meliorated. I know 

 no improvement by which so nmch ixood could be 

 done, at so small expense, and with as much cer- 

 tainly of beiniT refunded. In many cases, the 

 pasture could be surface-drained by llie shepherds, 

 in the course of a lew years, without interfer- 

 ing with their duty to their flo('ks. But the indo- 

 lent habits of the pastoral life are not easily over- 

 come; the herds continue to loiter, half iille, on the 

 hills, and the sheep to wade in the gutters as for- 

 merly. 



In some situations, larire tracts of sheep pas- 

 lure and n)oss ground could bo n)uch improved, 



by turninir streams or rills of water over it. Earth,, 

 sand, njud, &c. might frequently be thrown upon 

 such pasture by means of a mountain rill, that is 

 neszlccied. or suffered to do much injury. I saw 

 an improvement of that nature, execiited by the 

 Bishop of Llandaff, whereby he had reclaimed 

 a few acres of moss, of the least value, near 

 Colgarth House, on the side of the Windermere 

 lake, and converted it into pasture, which grazed 

 a large milk cow on each acre, fbrmerly not worth 

 one shilling. If every acre in Scotland, capable 

 of being reclaimed in that way, were brought to 

 as great periection, the profit of the occupier, the 

 proprietor, and the public, would be beyond calcu- 

 lation. 



When I survej'^ed the county of Ayr, I w;is 

 much pleased with an improvement of that nature, 

 executed by J. Cochran, esq. of Lndylands, on 

 some hiifh land of his, near to the head of the 

 Garnock. By turning a rill from the hills, over a 

 piece of bleak iiround, which produced little her- 

 bage but white bent (nardus stricta), stool bent 

 (fnncus squarrosus), wiih yellew logs (hypna), 

 and some grasses of a dwarfish size, he was en- 

 abled, two years alier, to cut 4500 stones, Eng- 

 lish, of good hay from 11 acres, formerly not 

 worth in all 2/. sterling of rent. Like other im- 

 provements, ir only excited laughter and clamor 

 among the country people; bni now that it has suc- 

 ceeded so well, I trust they will Ibllow hisexample. 

 Many thousands of acres might be improved in 

 that way in Scotland, so as to yield 50or 100, per- 

 haps .300 per cent, on the expense incurred. 



3. Plantations may be raised to great advan- 

 tage, and with much success, on a moss soil. I 

 have seen many different kinds of forest trees 

 ijrrowing with great luxuriance on mosses of con- 

 siderable depth, in almost every county of Scot- 

 land, and in all the counties of England, in which 

 I found moss. Not only birch, mountain ash, 

 saughs of various kinds, alders, and other aquat- 

 ics, but firs, larches, spruce, limes, beecf:es, elms, 

 and oaks, grow well on mosses of great depth; 

 and all of them, with several other kinds of trees, 

 may be seen in many deep mosses. 



When plantations of any kind are to be raised 

 on moss, it is necessary not only to relieve the sur- 

 face of moisture; but, if the moss is deep, and has 

 little declivity, ditches also ought to be cut, three 

 or four feet deep, at the distance of filty or sixty 

 feet, at mosr, from each orher. The moss-earth 

 taken from the ditches should be laid into hollow 

 parts of the intermediate ridges, which should be 

 smoothed, and raised in the centre, that the rain- 

 water may run speedily into the ditches; and these 

 ought to communicate with the principal drains, 

 so that no water may remain in tlie ditches. If 

 the ditches are properly formed, and kept clear, 

 and the surface of the ridges to be planted kept 

 smooth, and free fi'om stagnant water, planting 

 will grow well, and turn to irood account, in any 

 kind of moss not more than lOOOfeetabove the level 

 of the sea. Even in greater altitudes, trees can 

 be raised, in convenient spots, to a sufficient height 

 lor ornament to the country, and shelter to the 

 sheep. What beauty would it give to the coun- 

 try, and melioration tothe condition of moorstock, 

 were a few clumps or belts of any kind ol" trees 

 raised on the sheep walks! A plantation to the 

 extent of half an acre, may be enclosed with a 

 dike of sod sufficient to turn cattle, and shelter 



