3S37] 



F A R M E R S' REGISTER. 



•169 



1lie, yuurii; trees, lor 40s. or 31. Thirty or (brty 

 such cliuiip.s ruiirlit he raised over a shocp-wulk for 

 .about lOU/., or less than one year's rent; while 

 the shelter they woulil atl'ord, and ilie beauty they 

 would u'ive to the aspect ol' the counliy, not to 

 mention the value of the trees, would niucii more 

 liian compensate that trilling expense. It shows 

 rrreat want of taste to ne<j;lect an improvement so 

 ■cheap, so necessary, so valuable, and teruiintrso 

 much to ornament tl'je face of those dreary re- 

 gions. 



4. Moss may also he used as a cultivated soil, 

 ■fJir the raisino; ol" grain crops. Until ol" late, the 

 •proprietors anil possessors of moss-land, were ig- 

 norant of its value as a cultivated soil, and con- 

 tented themsidves with the pasture it yielded, and 

 the ga;;if it produced. Those who first talked of 

 raisiuii irraiii, or roots, from moss, were held up to 

 derision; and to this day moss-culture is laughed at, 

 and considered as a whim, even by the generality 

 ot farmers. Fortunately, however, lor mankind, 

 anil particularly fir Britons, it has been ascertain- 

 eil, bevond all doubt, that moss is as capable- as 

 HI1V other soil ot" being reclaimed, and rendered 

 productive of all sorts of grain, grasses, and use- 

 ful roots. Convinced of tiiese facts t"roni my own 

 experience, and from that of others, who, for 

 ne;tr thirty years past have raised the best crops 

 from even the worst o( mosses, [ turned my atten- 

 tion to the subject with much ardor; and having 

 travelled several thousaml miles to see how these 

 operations were conducted, I now beg leave to lay 

 the result ol" all my studies and inquiries on that 

 subject before the public, through the medium of 

 your valuable Magazine, with thesincerest wishes 

 that they may be reduced to practice, and that mv 

 ■countrymen may reap therefrom that benefit which 

 I have the f"ullest conviction it is capable ol"yield- 

 hig. 



1. When the cultivation oniill-mnss is attempt- 

 ed, all that is necessary is, to reduce the land to a 

 proper form, ap[)ly manure, .and ado[)t such a 

 mode of cropping as that species of" soil can admit 

 oi; In this kind of moss, the subsoil is the chief 

 thing to be attended to. The incrustation of 

 moss, or black mould approaching to moss, is sel- 

 dom of sufficient depth to form a soil. The sub- 

 soil may be added to that of the moss; and the ope- 

 rations will fidi to be regulated by the quality and 

 condition of that subsoil. If it be clay, it would re- 

 quire to be ploughed and exposed to ihe weather, a 

 year or two before it is cropped; if sand or gravel, 

 as is most f"re(]uently the case, it will fall to be 

 treated like other new or poor land of that des- 

 cription. This subsoil will, like all other newly bro- 

 ken up ground, be almost void of vegetable mat- 

 ter; (hat on the surface is sufficient to supply the 

 defect; but, being insoluble, it would need to be 

 reduced by caustic lime, or other stimulants, which 

 tend to accelerate the decomposition ot moss- 

 earth. If the soil is sandy, too much exposure to 

 the summer drought would tend to render the 

 moss-earth still more insoluble, and could do no 

 good 1o the sand. Af"ter one or two crops, it ought 

 to be laid down with grass-seeds, and pastured lor 

 three or four years. Potatoes and turnips are pro- 

 per crops for such land. These may be followed 

 by barley or oats, with orrass-seeds. Green crops 

 would, by overshadowing the ground, bring the 

 original moss-earth in the soil into a state of greater 

 solubility, and accelerate its decomposition. 



No. II. 



Slrathaven, 1st October, 1811. 



Sir — My Inst communication concluded with di- 

 rections lor breaking up, antl ii;claiiriing /t///-moss, 

 or that species of waste land where, from its de- 

 clivity, or the permeable nakireof Ihe subsoil, the 

 moss earth has only risen a Itiw inches, not in pro- 

 per moss, but in a sort of" dry, ileafj inert, black 

 mould, approaching to moss. The method there 

 recommended in cultivaiing such land, is the same 

 as would be proper to t)e pui'sued if the ground 

 had been altogether free of' such incrust;uion of 

 moss; with a due application of hot lime, and 

 other stimulatinir manures, to render the vegeta- 

 table matter, which has grown over the surface, 

 soluble; reduce and separate its organic parts, and 

 convert it into manure for succeeding crops. If 

 the soil, over wliich the incrustation of black earth 

 has risen, be clay, or of a dense quality, it would 

 require to be fallowed for two seasons, to dry it, 

 open its pores, and render it lt.'rtile; but if" the soil 

 be sandy, as is most common under that species 

 of moss, fallowing could be of no use, f"urther than 

 one course, to reduce the surface to proper form. 

 A crop of" potatoes or turnips, with dung and some 

 hot lime to bring the moss-earlh into putrefaction, 

 followed by a white crop with grass-seeds, would 

 be the most proper course in sarnly or dry soils. 



VVith these directions I intended to have closed 

 that part of" the subject. But as I find, from a 

 correspondence which I have had with the Board 

 of Agriculture, for whom I iia\e undertaken to 

 draw up the chapter on waste lands, of the General 

 Report lor Scotland, that the honorable Board, and 

 their intelliirent Sei^retary, are partial to the Eng- 

 lish mode of reclaiming every species of waste land 

 Iw pan"/)g and biirning,l find it necessary to say 

 a few words more on the subject. 



I am not a stranger to that mode ot" reclaiming 

 waste land, having seen it practised in many 

 parts of England, and sometimes in Scotland, and 

 read many excellent communications to the Board, 

 county surveys, and other agricultural writings, 

 wherein paring and burning was recommended, 

 nor only on waste land, but also on the richest 

 and best old pastures. But as these plans of im- 

 provement did not seem to me the most eligible, I 

 endeavored to shun disputes on that subject, as to 

 the breaking up of waste land; disapproved of 

 burning fespecially in the way it is generally ex- 

 ecuted in Scotland) as to moss; and reprobated, 

 111 stroniT terms, the practice of" paring and burn- 

 ing old rich pastures. 



My observations on these subjects did not meet 

 with the approbation of the intelligent Secretary; 

 but whatever may be my opinions on that, or any 

 other subject, it would be presumptuous, and most 

 unreasonable, for me to insist on their being pre- 

 servetl in a General Report; which, though the ori- 

 irinal sketch be drawn up by individuals, is ulti- 

 matley to be laid before the Sovereign and both 

 Houses of Parliment, as the result of" the labors 

 and opinions of the honorable Board. 



In communications, however, of this nature, 

 written and signed by myseltj I trust i shall give 

 no offence even to those who may difi^er from me 

 in opinion thereanent, by staling with candor, 

 and all manner of freedom, my sentiments on that 

 subject. I am still humbly of oninion, that to 



