3o8 SOIL CONDITIONS AND PLANT GROWTH 



2. The peat is removed and sold, and if the climate allows 

 the underlying formation is : — 



[a) Ploughed up, if it is clay or sand. 



{b) Covered with town refuse and then cultivated, as at 



Chat Moss. 

 {c) Warped, i.e. systematically flooded with tidal water 

 carrying silt till several feet of soil have been formed ; 

 this is only possible in a few areas, e.g. in Lincoln- 

 shire, lying below high water-level. 

 The first of these methods is in use in Ireland ^ and on 

 the continent ; it is much investigated at the experiment 

 stations at Jonk oping (Sweden) by H. von Feilitzen, at 

 Bremen (Prussia), Munich, and Arnheim (Holland). The 

 second has been the subject of many experiments in England. 

 The removal and sale of peat is perfectly sound in 

 principle. Peat is an asset of considerable value, but it is es- 

 sentially a wasting asset ; it disappears at a measurable rate 

 after the drainage that is nowadays necessary. Under modern 

 conditions peat cannot be conserved for future generations, 

 and we are therefore fully justified in using it ourselves, even 

 if the process be somewhat wasteful. 



Peat may be made to serve three purposes : — 

 {a) Fuel, after it has been cut and dried. 



(b) Litter, if it is sufficiently fibrous, or 



{c) It may be decomposed by heat, and made to yield 



valuable products, such as sulphate of ammonia, 



power gas, tar, etc. 



Fen Soils. — The fen soils form an interesting group in the 



low-lying areas adjoining the river Ouse and its tributaries in 



Norfolk, Cambridge, etc. As already stated, the soil water is 



not acid but contains calcium carbonate : the vegetation is not 



of the acid-soil type and crops do not respond to lime. The 



main characteristics of these soils are their richness in lime 



and their very high content of nitrogen, of which no less than 



3 per cent, is found in some cases (see p. 1 36). 



The region was not much in cultivation till the great 



1 See Duncan for experiments in Ireland, jfourn. Dept. Agric., Ireland, 1915. 



