470 



FARMERS' REGISTER, 



[No. 8 



pare and burn the accumulated vegetable matter 

 formed on (lie surface of rich old pasture, is a prac- 

 tice as barbarous as any that ever sprang from 

 conceited ignorance. I shall state my opinion of 

 burning deep moss, when I come to treat of re- 

 chuminir fl'iw-mossj but it is also necessary to no- 

 tice here, how lar it seems proper, in the species 

 of waste under consideration. 



I am humbly of opinion, that, wherever a thin 

 incrustation of moss-earth, or black mould ap- 

 proaching to mo^s. is Ibund incumbent on, or has 

 been .tiixed, by the plough, with a cold, damp, ad- 

 hesive, meager clay soil, and that moss-earth or 

 vegelahle mould has become (ns it generally is in 

 such situations) more insoluble than ordinary moss, 

 and cannot be reduced to putrefaction by the caus- 

 tic powers of lime, or others the most stimulating 

 manures; burninirthe moss or black mould, and 

 torreiying, with it, as great a portion as pos-^ible 

 of the steril adhesive clay, is the most proper 

 course that can, in all such cases, be followed In 

 all other situations tlial I know, burning produces 

 a luxuriant crop or two, at the expense of those 

 that t()llow; but, in ihe case here recommended, 

 the burning corrects the greatest defect in the soil, 

 and renders it capable of permanent fertility. 



The great defect of a poor, damp adhesive clay 

 soil, is, that it is so close in its pores, that njois- 

 ture cannot escape, or the roots of vegetables pe- 

 netrate. It is cold, chillinu morlar, when wet, 

 and adhesive clods when dry. The veojetable 

 matter formed from the crops that grow on such 

 soils, in high districts, and even the dung that is 

 applied to it, is chilled, and kept stationary, by the 

 cold clay, and moisture which it retains, liutil its 

 pores are opened, it will not become fertile or pro- 

 ductive. 



Burning the moss, or insoluble vegetable mould, 

 ,on such land, and torreiying as lartre a portion as 

 .possible of the clay, is, of all other methods, the 

 most proper, with land of that description. The 

 ashes of the inoss, or vegetable matter, which 

 could not be rendered sufficiently soluble, by any 

 other means yet known, will yied a crop or two; 

 and the burnt earth, being mixed into the soil, 

 will open its pores, to let the chilling moisture 

 escape, give scope to the roots of plants, and ren- 

 der it capable of permanent fertility. 



As the burning must have exhausted the whole 

 vegetable matter in the soil, and as no ground can 

 be productive until it is impregnated with such 

 matter, in some degree disposed to yield to putre- 

 faction, I would recommend to apply, after the 

 first crop, a good dressing of moss compost, that 

 has been brought under Itjrmentation by being 

 mixed with dung, lime, or some other stimu^ 

 lant, before beinir spread on the soil. After the 

 pores of the clay have been opened by torrefaction; 

 and the mass brought into a proper state of pu- 

 trescence, by dung, &c. before it was applied to 

 the soil, there will he no dantrer of that moss be- 

 coming again insoluble, like that which had been 

 formed on the adhesive clay soil where its de- 

 composition was retarded by the chilling damps 

 in the soil. 



It does not often happen, however, that a thin 

 incrustation of black mould, like ill-formed moss, 

 is Ibund upon a damp, cold, adhesive clay; but, 

 more generally, over a lighter and opener soil. 

 When the soil is close and retentive, the bent or 

 the flow-moss, of much greater depth than that 

 here treated of, is generally formed. 



Where the soil is already sufficiently open to 

 the escape of moisture, burning, to render it more 

 loose, would be injurious; and to burn any black 

 mould or moss collected over a sandy or gravelly 

 soil, would be a gross error, and lolly. The 

 black mould, steril as it may be, that covers sand 

 or channel, forms a much better soil lor cultiva- 

 tion than that of sand gravel, or rock: and as by 

 far the greatest part of hill mosses is incumbent or> 

 a sand}' or open soil, burning ought to be practised 

 on such land with caution. 



Some have recommended burning, in all cases 

 where the soil was covered with coarse bulky her- 

 bage that could not be otherwise reduced to pu- 

 trefaction. 



Wherever coarse herbage, or vegetable matter 

 of any kind, is found to be so insolul»le, as to batHe 

 the fermenting powers of lime, or other stimlaling 

 manures to bring it into putrelaction, it certain- 

 ly may be burnt, unless it be tijund that the sub- 

 soil on which it rests would Ibrm a worse soil than 

 the vegetable earth. But I am humbly of opinion 

 that, except when it is incumbent on a cold, adhe- 

 sive, damp clay, neither the coarse bulky herbage 

 which grows on such waste land, nor even the 

 black vegetable mould or moss formed from them, 

 when under a slow and partial decay, are so com- 

 pletely insoluble as not to be made to yield to Ihe 

 dissolving powers of hot lime, or the fermenting 

 qualities of' good dung. 



If either recent vegetables, however, or vegeta- 

 ble earth, loruied chiefiy from plants that have 

 grown on the surface, is found to be so insoluble as 

 to resist the powers of lime, they ousfht certainly 

 to be reduced by fire, in all cases where the sub- 

 soil is belter adapted to cultivation as an improved 

 soil, than that of the vegetables or vegetable mat- 

 ter by which it is covered. 



In situations, too, where the moss-earth and 

 coarse vegetables on the surface are abundant — 

 no lime nor stimulating manures at hand to accele- 

 rate their decomposition — and where the subsoil 

 cannot be injurea by the burning, or admixture of 

 the ashes, and charred or torrefied pe-at or earth; 

 some part may no doubt be burnt to raise crops, 

 and bring on better herbage. But these seem to be 

 the only cases in which that operation can be 

 executed with advantage — or, I would rather say, 

 without injury; as will be more fully stated when 

 I come to notice the effects of burning on flow- 

 moss. 



I do not advance these doctrines to provoke 

 controversy, but merely as candid opinions which 

 I have deliberately formed, after the fullest inves- 

 tiixation of the subject, both in theory and prac- 

 tice, for many years. Others will judge for them- 

 selves. 



II. Of the cultivation of bent-moss. 



When bent moss, which is always covered with 

 a bulky sward of green herbage, is to be cultiva- 

 ted, all that is necessary, is to relieve its surface of 

 moisture by furrows opened with spades, or drawn 

 by the plough; apply lime in a caustic state^ and 

 labor and crop the ground. 



The ground ought to be completely surface- 

 drained, at least six months before the lime is put 

 on. The best method is to form furrows in the 

 directions wherein it is proper to carry the ridges; 

 or, at least, one furrow lor every two ridges; and 



