186 SANDY SOILS. 



crumbles is the most valuable. The effects are 

 quickly seen, and of short duration ; but this is no 

 objection, for it is as important to the farmer as to 

 the capitalist to receive quickly the returns from 

 his investment. 



Sandy lands are improved by mixture with sub- 

 stances containing humus, or vegetable matter. 

 Chief among these is peat, which is so generally 

 found in the temperate zone. ^ Martin Doyle's 

 Cyclopaedia of Practical Husbandry gives Lord 

 Meadowbanks's method of rendering peat a profita- 

 ble manure. His suggestion is, to " form a layer 

 of peat, which had been previously in a dry state, a 

 little longer than the intended midden, six inches 

 thick ; and on this to lay fresh dung and peat, in 

 alternate courses, diminishing each layer of dung 

 from ten inches in thickness, until the compost is 

 three or four feet high, when it should be covered 

 from the ends (which should be formed to overlap 

 for the purpose) and the sides with peat. His 

 lordship's proportion is, one load of dung to three 

 of peat, in mild or warm, and a little more dung in 

 cold weather, so as to produce a full and generous 

 fermentation, which in summer will be so rapid 

 and violent as to require an additional application 

 of peat. The heap should be turned upside down-, 

 thoroughly mixed, and all the lumps broken a few 

 weeks before using, after which it ferments mod- 



1 Gardeners' Chronicle of 1843, p. 39. 



