THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



379 



these ditches should be dug, and one may be placed 

 on each side so as to divide the peat Irom the sound 

 land, and thus cut ofi the springs which ooze Irom 

 the higher ground. However slight the apparent 

 (all of the ground, it is generally practicable, by 

 carrying along ihe new water-course to a sufficient 

 length, to reduce the level of the water 3 or 4 feet 

 permanently below the surface : this then is the 

 first and indispensable step, the open drainage : 

 the next is the under or close drainage : it lias 

 been done on the Deanston principle — thorouuh 

 draining. The parallel drains have been cut lo a 

 depth ol 30 inches in the gravel underlying the 

 peat, the materials heirtg tiles and broken stones 

 over the tiles, covered with a sod 16 inches below 

 the Burljce ; the distance between the parallel 

 drains varying Irom 20 to about SO leet. The le- 

 vels are so flat that tiles have been often necessary. 

 It is essential that these drains should be lormed 

 belbre the surface is broken up, that ihe work may 

 be clean lor the laborers : winter and early spiing 

 will be tlie most convenient seasons. In Lincoln- 

 shire, however, Ihe heavy expense ofunder-drain- 

 ing has not been rerjnired. Deep open ditches, 

 dividing the peat into fields 0112 or 15 acres, have 

 been found lo lay it sufficiently dry. 



When the draining, of whatever kind, is com- 

 pleted, the question next arisfs how the coarse and 

 rushy swamp is to be brought into cultivation. I 

 roust say that the practice of paring and burning 

 the surface, employed by our farmers, has been 

 justified by i's etiecis. As soon as the harsh east- 

 erly winds of spring have set in, the breast-plouijlie 

 are put to work, the surface is pared and turned 

 over, and, when dry, piled in heaps and burnt to 

 ashes. The proceedini^ may be defended I think 

 on these grounds : — If'ilie coarse sward filled vviiii 

 the roots of rushes were merely ploughed over, it 

 would not decay during the whole summer, and 

 would be (ar too tough and hollow tor any crop 

 that might be sown on it. Airain, when a feriiie 

 well-dressed surface is burnt, the volatile pans of 

 manure which it contains may be dissipated by 

 fire, but on the land we are dealing with, there is 

 no fertility to be destroyed. Lastly, the ashes 

 which are pro iuced are a manure peculiarly adapt- 

 ed lor the crop which experience has taught the 

 Lincolnshire farmers to make their first crop on 

 Buch land ; that crop is rape, a plant not generally 

 grown in this coumry. On such ground so pre- 

 pared, it shoots up with unliiiling luxuriance, re- 

 sembling the io|)S of strongly <rrowing Swedes, but 

 forming a dense mass ofdark leaves, about a yard 

 high, through which it is difficult to make one's 

 way. Although peat may be well suited to the 

 growth of tape, it is to the peat-ashes, I believe, 

 that the chief strength of its vegetaiion is due. In 

 fields where the soil is moory but not a pure peat, 

 when they have been pared and burnt in the same 

 manner, a singular appearance prest^ntsiisell'which 

 proves this point. On the spots where the heaps 

 have been burnt, may be seen dark tufis of rape 

 growing in the vigorous manner already described. 

 On the rest of the ground you can hardly distin- 

 guish the pale blue or purple dwindled plants ol 

 rape scarcely raising themselves from the surface 

 and choked with grass. This fact illustrates in 

 some degree the chemical laws of the food of 

 plants ; tor Dr. Liebig stales that peat ashes con- 

 tain a small proportion of potash : I believe that 

 the rape itseU' also contains potash : hence proba- 



bly the wonderful influence of peat-ashes upon its 

 growth. There is also a further circumstance 

 which may tie remarked ; the quantity of ashes 

 which thus occasions the difl^erence between a 

 strong plant 3 feet high and a feeble weed of a 

 lew inches, is very small ; but, of that small quan- 

 tity, the potash and oiher salts which enter into 

 the composi'ion ofthe plant, and enable it to bring 

 Ibrth iis tall stem atid ttroad leaves, are still more 

 minute: the ashes cannot then be called the food 

 of Ihe plant ; they can only aid the plant to make 

 use of the other mailers of which its vegetable 

 frame is formed ; yet they act precisely as farm 

 dung, which is supposed to afford the substance of 

 vegeiaiion. Such is the tact ; the explanation re- 

 mains lor that chemist who at some luture day 

 shall unfold lo us the great mystery of the Ibod of 

 plants. 



1 have omitted to mention the manner in which 

 the rape or Swedes are sovvn ; and, in now advert- 

 ing to it, I have to state an instance in which the 

 knowledge of a praciical farmer was belter than 

 my own theory. I had been very desirous that one 

 ol my tenants should subsoil-plough his peat land 

 after it had been drained, in order to let down the 

 water through the tenacious subsoil ; this he was 

 very reluctant to do, because in his opinion it cou d 

 not be ploughed too shallow. He was unwilling 

 even to plough it 4 inches deep, thinking the depth 

 of 2 inches enough. Now it happened that in a 

 peaty field of my own, which had just been broken 

 up, one hall of ihe 25 acres was ploughed 2 inches 

 deep, the other hall, contrary to my inienlions, 4 

 inches deep. On the half which had been ploughed 

 shallow, I found a very fine g owth ol Swedes ; on 

 ilie other, which had been plougfied deep, about 8 

 acres were almost perfectly bare, nearly every 

 plant having been desiroyed by ihe wire-worm. 

 The looseness ofthe ground arising from the deep- 

 er stirring, may have rendered the progress of the 

 wire worm more easy ; but I think tlie true cause 

 ol the destruction was the enfeebled state of the 

 plant, in consequence of which it perished under 

 ihe attack which greater vigor womd have enabled 

 it to survive. This I believe is often the case, and 

 certainly under ihe strong Swedes on Ihe fiimer 

 l<ind, an equal number of wire-worms was lo be 

 Ibund. Tlie larmers in lidct here, led by experi- 

 ence, carry to a great length the principle of keep- 

 ing such poor light ground as tight as possible. I 

 should have mentioned that the rape is planted by 

 sowing it broadcast on the unmoved ground alter 

 ihe ashes oi the fiisi breast ploujj;hiiig have been 

 spread, the seed being alterwai'ds covered by par- 

 ing and turning over another thin slice ol the sur- 

 lace in a second breasi-ploughing. On one larm, 50 

 acres ofland, which though not peat are peaty and 

 equally loose in texiuie. were broken up Irom grass 

 three years ago, and have been culiivaied ever 

 since by the breasi-plough alone. I did try the sub- 

 soil plough last year on two acres of peat, cutting 

 through asubsoll of we.tk clay, and it appearstome 

 that the present crop of Swe les has sjHered ma- 

 terially by the consequent looseness ol Ihe ground, 

 the land being but half coveted with plants: in- 

 deed, although it has been thorough drained, it has 

 returned to the slate of hog, and is once more al- 

 most impassable. It is right, however, to mention 

 that in Lincolnshire deeper ploughing is [)ractised. 

 Mr. Handley writes to me, "the peat is ploughed as 

 deep or deeper than other lands. A relative of 



