C 25* ] 



to its agency upon water, or to its mechanical effects. 

 It is a substance very absorbent and retentive of mois- 

 ture, and yet not penetrable by the roots of plants. 



Inert peaty matter is a substance of the same kind. 

 It remains for years exposed to water and air without 

 undergoing change ; and in this state yields little or 

 no nourishment to plants. 



Woody fibre will not ferment unless some sub- 

 stances are mixed with it which act the same part as 

 the mucilage, sugar, and extractive or albuminous 

 matters, with which it is usually associated in herbs 

 and succulent vegetables. Lord Meadowbank has 

 judiciously recommended a mixture of common farm- 

 yard dung for the purpose of bringing peats into fer- 

 mentation ; any putrescible or fermentable substance 

 will answer the end ; and the more a substance heats, 

 and the more readily it ferments, the better will it be 

 fitted for the purpose. 



Lord Meadowbank states, that one part of dung 

 is sufficient to bring three or four parts of peat into a 

 state in which it is fitted to be applied to land ; but of 

 course the quantity must vary according to the nature 

 of the dung and of the peat. In cases in which some 

 living vegetables are mixed with the peat, the fermen- 

 tation will be more readily effected. 



Tanners spent bark, shavings of wood and saw 

 dust, will probably require as much dung to bring 

 them into fermentation as the worst kind of peat. 



Woody fibre may be likewise prepared so as to 

 become a manure by the action of lime. This subject 

 I shall discuss in the next Lecture, as it follows na* 



