CH. vi] Peat and Fen Soils 123 



potash manures for the clover or seeds ley. On the grass 

 land basic slag often effects remarkable improvements 

 especially in the wet districts or where the top inch or 

 so of soil has lost its calcium carbonate. 



Peat -soils 



Three kinds of peat soils occur in this country : 



1 . The fen soils of Huntingdonshire, Cambridgeshire 

 and Norfolk, forming a large area of low lying land that 

 would be flooded by the rivers but for the elaborate 

 system of embankments and pumps. These soils pro- 

 duce heavy crops of potatoes, oats and wheat : they also 

 grow mustard for seed, buckwheat, and if need be, 

 celery. The fen that lies over Kimmeridge clay is greatly 

 benefited by dressings of the clay brought up from below 

 the surface. The fen remote from the clay is not so 

 readily improved : com crops suffer particularly in that 

 they do not produce much grain. In cultivating fen 

 soils the great need is to keep down weeds and leave the 

 land sufficiently compact. Oxidation and erosion are 

 rapidly taking place, and even within living memory 

 have caused much shrinkage of the fen. 



Usually speaking lime is not required for crop pro- 

 duction. The great need is for superphosphate, of which 

 extraordinarily large dressings are sometimes given with 

 profitable results. These abnormal features probably 

 arise from the fact that the waters feeding the Fen 

 streams all come from chalk land, and therefore bring 

 with them large amounts of dissolved chalk. 



No Livestock is kept and no farmyard manure is 

 needed. 



2. Loiv lying peat lands. These occur to a consider- 

 able extent in the western half of England, in Wales and 



