426 THE FUTURE OF OUR AGRICULTURE. 



matter may be useful as suggesting to our authorities some 

 desirable steps. In the first place, the Ministry of Agri- 

 culture some time back instituted a distinct department to 

 deal with this special subject, ably officered and presided 

 over by the particularly capable and active Councillor 

 Thiel, whose name is not altogether unknown in this country. 

 By the side of that public department, there is an inde- 

 pendent association of men interested in the subject. And, 

 in fine, to permit of experimental research, there is a well 

 endowed experimental station, specifically for dealing with 

 moorland, established at Bremen. All three institutions, 

 working hand in hand, have proved exceedingly valuable 

 and have stimulated inquiry and activity to a remarkable 

 degree. Under such guidance the science of dealing with 

 moorland has advanced greatly. 



One newly introduced process, which has proved most 

 valuable, deserves mention. It concerns low moors. After 

 many varied experiments, which cost him his fortune and 

 even landed him rather deep in debt, Herr Rimpau dis- 

 covered that by laying out low moor in ridges, by means 

 of trenches, out of which the black soil first dug up, and 

 later the sand — which in Germany almost invariably forms 

 the subsoil under moorland — is placed upon the ridges, 

 producing a layer of sand above the peat about 4 or 5 inches 

 thick, very valuable arable land may be produced, yielding 

 as heavily as the best wheat soil, and suitable for any variety 

 of crops. It is the sand which is cultivated. The black 

 soil underneath is left untouched. Moorland so treated 

 will produce such considerable quantities of good fodder, 

 that most ample farmyard manure becomes available for 

 fertilising the adjoining land, which in Herr Rimpau 's 

 instance — as in many others — consists of pure white sand, 

 but which has by such manuring been raised to a pitch of 

 fertility which enables it likewise to bear any variety of 

 crops, including sugar beet. That has now become the 

 favourite process for low moor. 



One advantage of high moor, on the other hand, under the 

 German system, is that with the aid of the manure bag it 

 may be cultivated from the very start — once it is drained. 





