THE CHEMISTRY OF BOG RECLAMATION. 163 



encumbrance is reduced in quantity, and the remaining 

 ashes supply the surface of the bog on which they rest with 

 the non-volatile salts that originally existed in the burnt 

 portions of the bog. In other words, they concentrate in 

 a small space the salts that were formerly distributed too 

 sparsely through the whole of the turf which was burnt. 



As there are great differences in the composition of 

 different bogs, especially in this matter of mineral ash, it is 

 evident that the success of this method must be very 

 variable, according to the locality. 



On discussing this method with Mr. MacAlister (Mr. 

 Henry's steward, under whose superintendence these re- 

 clamation works are carried out), he informed me that the 

 bogs on the Kylemore estate yield a very small amount of 

 ash a mere impalpable powder that a light breath might 

 blow away; that it was practically valueless, excepting from 

 the turf taken at nearly the base of the bog. The ash I 

 examined where the bog-burning is extensively practiced in 

 Donegal, was quite different from this. The quantity was 

 far greater, and its substance more granular and gritty. It, 

 in fact, formed an important stratum, when spread over the 

 surface of the ridges. These differences of composition 

 may account for the differences of opinion and practice 

 which prevail in different districts. It affords a far more 

 rational explanation than the assumption that all such con- 

 tradictions arise from local stup/dities. 



There is one evil, however, which is common to all 

 bog-burning as compared with liming it must waste the 

 ammoniacal salts, as they are volatile, and are driven away 

 into the air by the heat of combustion. Somebody may 

 get them when the rain washes them down to the earth's 

 surface again; but the burner himself obtains a very small 

 share in this way. 



We may therefore conclude that where lime is near at 

 hand, bog-burning is a rude and wasteful, a viciously indo- 

 lent mode of reclamation. It is only desirable where 

 limestone is so distant that the expense of carriage renders 

 lime practically unattainable, and where the bog itself is 

 rich in mineral matter, and so deep and distant from a fuel 

 demand, that it may be burned to waste without an}' 



