Culture of Muss Lands. 533 



" The culture of moss lands has proceeded but slowly in Lan- 

 cashire during the last twenty-six years. Adjoining the por- 

 tion cultivated by the late venerated Mr. Roscoe, as described 

 in our Encyc. of Agr.^ 2d edit. p. 747., an extensive tract has 

 lately been undertaken by Mr. Reid, whose success has been 

 most complete. Mr. Reid proceeds on the principle, that 

 manure, water, and any description of earthy matter, not dele- 

 terious to vegetables, will produce a crop of herbaceous 

 plants. He has accordingly drained, levelled, and cut into 

 small pieces, about 200 acres of the mossy surface ; coated it 

 with marly clay, at the rate of 150 cubic yards or tons per 

 acre ; and given it, what would be called by farmers, a good 

 coating of putrescent manure. After this ti'eatment in 1829, 

 he planted, in the beginning of 1830, potatoes, which paid 

 25/. per acre, or more than all the expenses incurred. After 

 the potatoes he has an excellent crop of wheat, now on the 

 ground, and estimated at from three to four quarters per acre. 

 On a piece of 50 acres, so treated in 1830, wheat was sown 

 as a first crop, and now appears as if it would produce at 

 least five quarters per acre. Clover and Stickney's rye-grass 

 succeed admirably. It is but doing justice to Mr. Reid, to 

 state that he has conducted all his operations at once in the 

 most scientific and the most economical manner ; if encouraged 

 to proceed, he will soon cover the whole moss with verdure, 

 which alone will be an inestimable advantage to the public ; 

 but we shall never consider Chat Moss, or any similar collec- 

 tion of peat, permanently and securely subjected to man, till 

 it is so drained by deep cuts in judicious situations, and by 

 time, that the 20 or 30 ft. of spongy moss, on the surface of 

 which Mr. Reid now operates, shall be consolidated to 2 or 

 3 ft. Our reason is, that the earthy matter applied, being of 

 a different specific gravity from the moss, will gradually sink 

 down into it, till it reaches the bottom. We know that lime 

 on the surface of grass lands on sandy soil will sink into the 

 soil, and after a few years, say seven or ten, be found in a 

 regular stratum, a few inches below the surface. It will con- 

 tinue to sink till it meets with earthy matter of its own spe- 

 cific gravity. Mr. Reid has promised us an accurate account 

 of his operations, which we shall give in a future Number, 

 with the details of our tour; in the mean time it may be use- 

 ful to observe that he proceeds on the general principles 

 laid down by Steele, in his Essay on Peat Moss, which excel- 

 lent work may be considered as Mr. Reid's text-book. 



We could have wished to see the mosses in the north of 

 Lancasfiire, between Lancaster and Ulverston, and the Solway 

 Moss and others between Longtown and Dumfries, covered 



M .AI 3 



