THE CHEMISTRY OF BOG RECLAMATION. 165 



" And, first of all, a word as to the all -important matter 

 of cost. Does it pay? 



" Including farm-buildings and roads, the reclamations 

 here have cost on an average 13Z. an acre, which, at 5 per 

 cent, means an annual rent-charge of 13s., to which is to be 

 added a sum of from Is. to 3s., the full annual value of the 

 unreclaimed land. It is obvious that if we start with an 

 outlay of 3QI. phis the Is. to 3s. of original rent, such an 

 amount would usually be found prohibitory; but, on the 

 other hand, excellent profits may be made if the expenditure 

 is so kept down that the annual rent is not more than from 

 15s. to 18s. per acre. Before entering into further details; 

 let me say that I claim no credit for originality in what has 

 been done. The like has been effected on numerous prop- 

 erties in Ireland in bygone days, and is daily being carried 

 out by the patient husbandman who year by year with his 

 spade reclaims a little bit from the mountain side. And you 

 must allow me emphatically to say that what has been done 

 here economically and well would not have been done ex- 

 cept for the prudence, patience, and thoughtful mind of 

 my steward, Archibald MacAlister, a County Antrim man, 

 descended from one of the race of Highland Catholic Scotch 

 settlers, who have peopled the north of Ireland and added 

 so much to its prosperity. 



" The Pass of Kylemore, in which I live, is undoubtedly 

 favorably situated for reclamation, for there is but little 

 very deep bog, and there is abundance of limestone. In 

 former ages it must have been an estuary of the sea, with a 

 river flowing through it, now represented by a chain of lakes 

 and the small rapid river Dowris. The subsoil is sand, 

 gravel, and schist rock, with peat of varkms depths grown 

 upon it. As by the elevation of the land the sea long ages 

 ago was driven back, the mossy growth of peat commenced, 

 followed by pine and yew trees, of which the trunks and 

 roots are abundantly found; but, except over a space of 

 about 400 acres, every tree that formerly clothed the hill- 

 sides has been cut down or has totally disappeared. The 

 general result is that we have a pass several miles long, 

 bounded on the north and south by a chain of rugged moun- 

 tains of some 1500 or 1800 feet in height, while the east is 



