380 



THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



mine has for years been in the practice, when the 

 surface has become exhausted by cropping, ol 

 ploughins with two ploughs in the same flirrow, 

 depositing the top soil in the bottom of the (urrow, 

 and raising the subsoil li-om the depth of fourteen 

 inches to the top, with mo€t beneficial results ; but if 

 that dep'h was exceeded, the (bllowing cropQ were 

 bad." But even there ths practice is not unani- 

 mously approved, and Lincolnshire farms have 

 been by no means exempt from the wire-worm. 

 On Exmoor, too, in Somersetshire, I have lately 

 sf-en subsoil ploughing practised upon peal by Mr. 

 Knight with succe=^s ; but there the peat, about 8 

 inches thick, rests on one or two inches only of 

 rt^tentive earth, to which its growth is owing. 

 B^low this crust a po.-ous stone-brash is Ibumi. 

 The wetness of the climate may also remedy the 

 hollovvness of soil produced by the fcubsoil plough. 

 The shallow ploushing of our liirmers seems 

 to me to tie decidedly right upon our own peaty 

 and other loose soils. 



I may mention another mode in which this prin- 

 ciple has been applied with success for some years 

 by Mr. Williams, at Buckland, on a light blowing 

 Band, as it is called, as ii seems to answer equally 

 well upon peaty ground. In the common Northum- 

 berland system ofgrowmg turnips, it is well known 

 that the ground, when sufficiently ploughed, is 

 thrown up into alternate ridge and furrow with the 

 double-breasted plough, that the dung is placed in 

 the furrows, the ridges s[)lif, so what was furrow 

 beibre, now becomes ridge, and the turnips drilled 

 upon this new ridge standing, of course, over the 

 hollow earth which has been filled into the furrow. 

 But upon a very lightsand, Mr. Williams ihinkino- 

 ii desirable to keep the ground firm under the root. 

 whether turnip or mangel wur zel, proceeds in tiiis 

 way. The ground is ploughed first very ehallovv — 

 upon peat it may be merely scarified ; the dung is 

 then spread upon the land, the double-breasted 

 plough is used, as in the common mode, to throw up 

 ridges ; but the process is now complete, and the 

 turnips are drilled at once on these first-formed 

 ridges, so that, while the dung is collected round 

 them as in regular ridifing, they have a solid bed 

 to stand on in this bastard ridging, as it may be 



in weight as much as you gain in quantity. 1 may 

 observe that the oats do not ripen toj^ether upon 

 this ground : the larmers cut 'hem while ihey arc 

 partially trreen, bec-iu.-e they find that, iltht"y wait 

 until the whole crop hns chHU^pd its color, the 

 best grains, which are those th ii first ri()en, shed 

 in the mowing and carrying, whereas, ibepe are 

 preserved by early cuitinijr, whi e ihe unripe irrains 

 and green stalks improve ihe »?traw as fodiier for 

 cattle. This first crop ol oats is <r>'n<rn\\\ hpiten 

 down by the weather, being weak and long in the 

 straw, and, though not a bad crop, looks better 

 than it really is. 



On land which is not peeft but peaty, some farm- 

 ers grow barley : there is a large crop of s:raw, 

 and It is ihere'ore liable to be laid ; the yr nn, too, 

 is but thin. The advocates of barley, however, 

 assert that a bad sample of barley is belter than a 

 bad one of oats, because thin barley may be ground 

 or may be used lor seed, whereas seed oats should 

 be as plump as can be found. On the other hand, 

 it has been stated to me by a gentleman residing 

 in Lincolnshire, that " he considers barley the 

 most objeciionable grain which can be sown upon 

 pe«t soil, and that its injurious efl'ecis are visible 

 for five years." 



The rape and the oats will generally have proved 

 successful, and indeed by their luxuriance may 

 lead one lo suppose that more improvement has 

 been made than is really the case. It is now that 

 doubt and difficulty begin. The oats or barley are 

 followed by rye grass, which has tieen sown 

 among them, but if these have been hiid, as they 

 nfien are. lar/e patches of the rye-g;a>s will have 

 been des'royeJ. t^ven if they have not been laid, 

 the peaty soil will perhaps throw out many of the 

 grass-planis by the roots in the next winter, and 

 still more in the succeeding one, if, as is usual 

 here, the rye-grass be left for two years. The 

 motive for so leaving the groand two years in 

 grass is, that it may regain solidity before it is 

 again ploughed : siid this is but a poor rotation 

 which gives only one crop of corn in lour years. 

 On the oiher hand, if the ground were lelt per- 

 manently in grass, there ia reason to suppose that 

 in a few years the fine grasses would wear out, 



called ; and i must say that a trial I have this year the coarse herbage return, and the land be no 

 made of this method with Swedes upon peat, has j better lor the expenses incurred in drainage. 



confirmed Mr. Williams' experience upon sand 

 This operation, however, which I have mentioned 

 in order to show the leading principle acted on 

 here by farmers in the cultivation of peat— tight- 

 ness of groimd — applies to a later crop of Swedes: 

 at least in the first crop no dung could be required, 

 the ashes being amply sufficient. 



Rape or Sweiies being establishrd as the first 

 crop, after the breaking up of peaty land, in the 

 system I am describing, the next crop is usually 

 oats: they are drilled in upon a very shallow fur- 

 row, with plenty of seed, and well pressed wiih a 

 press-roll, as well beibre tliey are come up as after- 

 wards, in order to guard against the wire-worm, 

 the enemy to be feared on such land. It is re- 

 markable that by very late sowing, as late as the 

 end of April or beginning of May, you may be al- 

 most certain to escape the wire-worm — it is sup- 

 posed, because the oat grows more rapidly out of 

 their reach ; but on the other hand it will be har- 

 vested late ; and there is this further disadvantage, 

 that the grain, which is always light on such land, 

 will become bo much lighter, that you perhaps lose 



Nay, one farmer thinks he had observed it be- 

 come worse, because the equatic grasses natural 

 to peat no longer obtained the moisture which 

 they require, and the better grasses do not grow 

 well. In order to meet this evil, the gravel or 

 rubble which has been taken out from the main 

 drains, is spread over the ground in the winter 

 before the oats are sown : and, however sterile 

 and hungry be the material thus used as a ma- 

 nure, there is no doubt that it produces a strong 

 effect, for the rye-grass is much thicker and 

 sweeter where this has been done: this is called 

 firming or weighting the land j it is good as far 

 as it goes, but the staple of tlie soil is still very 

 weak. When wheat is sown on ground that is 

 at all peaty, it will almost certainly lose plant in 

 large patches, even though the land has been 

 dunged, and the young wheat has been trodden 

 in by women, as is sometimes done in the spring. 

 There is clearly some principle deliective in the 

 composition of the soil : that principle ia cohesion, 

 and can only be supplied by clay. 

 The operation of claying peat is one of the rae- 



