PEAT SOILS. 



peas, then turnips, oats, grass-seeds, peas, 

 wheat. In all cases, too, he must remember in 

 what small proportion some of the essential 

 ingredients of his crops are at first existing in 

 this peaty soil, and how valuable even a slight 

 dressing of clay or marl will be found in sup- 

 plying such deficiencies. 



And, again, it is here that the services of the 

 manure-drill are available to an invaluable 

 extent in applying bone-dust, or any kind of 

 organic or even earthy manure, especially to 

 the young land's earliest crops. For the na- 

 tural results of the progress of cultivation, the 

 gradual decomposition of the soil and tough 

 vegetable remains, the accumulation of more 

 easily decomposable vegetable matters, the ap- 

 plication of the ordinary farm-yard compost, 

 finally sufficiently enrich the ground with those 

 salts of lime and of potash which form the es- 

 sential ingredients of all fertile land. 



To expedite the accumulation of decom- 

 posing soluble matters in the soil, several ex- 

 pedients may be adopted. For instance, if the 

 farmer has access to night-soil, an admirable 

 compost may be made by mixing this seven or 

 eight weeks previous to its employment with 

 the peat itself. I know of no other compost so 

 powerful on peat soils as a compost of well- 

 putrefied peat and night-soil: 4 or 5 cubic 

 yards of the night-soil is an ample dressing per 

 acre with 12 or 15 cubic yards of peat. If the 

 farmer has not access to night-soil, let him 

 substitute farm-yard compost with the peat in 

 a rather larger proportion, or even urine, or 

 the drainage from his farm-yard. This plan, 

 first, I believe, successfully adopted by the late 

 Lord Meadowbank, is well described by Mr. 

 Dixon, of Heathershow, in an essay for which 

 a prize was awarded to him, in 1839, by the 

 Royal Agricultural Society of England. 



The farmer must, to derive the maximum 

 benefit from this plan, avoid certain errors, 

 which will else materially deteriorate the rich- 

 ness of the compost. He must be careful to 

 have the peat he intends to use dug for some 

 time previously, and exposed in spits to the 

 drying influence of the sun and winds. The 

 peat, in fact, can hardly be employed too dry ; 

 and the farmer will find that, if he makes the 

 compost in the dry, warm weather of summer, 

 he may then use more peat in proportion to his 

 farm-yard dung or night-soil, than if he makes 

 the mixture when the temperature of the air is 

 less. In the warm weather of the spring and 

 summer months, the cultivator will find I cubic 

 yard of fresh, good farm-yard compost suffi- 

 cient for 3 or 4 cubic yards of peat ; but in 

 colder weather the proportion of peat must 

 be decreased. The farmer will find that the 

 fresher and richer the animal manure, the 

 larger will be the proportion of peat with 

 which it may be successfully mixed. Thus, 

 with the rich semi-fluid mixture from the 

 slaughter-houses of London, with 1 cubic yard 

 of this, 6 or 7 cubic yards of peat may be 

 mixed ; and I have found, on several occa- 

 sions, every reason to agree with Lord Mea- 

 dowbank and others who have employed peat 

 in this way, that it is very desirable not to mix 

 more than half the intended proportion of peat 

 888 



PECK. 



at first, but to wait until 'he fermentation of 

 the mass is somewhat advanced, and the tem- 

 perature of the peat increased, before the last 

 half is added to the heap. Some persons re- 

 commend the addition of a portion of lime to 

 this compost; but this is a plan I do not con- 

 sider either advantageous or harmless : for the 

 lime combines with, and even partially decom- 

 poses, some of the richest portions of the ani- 

 mal matters of the manure; and I have on 

 some occasions suspected, from certain ap- 

 pearances, that it retarded, when thus used, 

 the dissolution of the peat. In 8 or 9 weeks 

 the compost will be ready for use ; the peat 

 and dung will be thoroughly mingled together, 

 and the whole heap will have the colour of a 

 dark garden-mould. Of the nourishing quality 

 of this mixture of peat with night-soil or yard- 

 manure, or urine, the farmer will readily con- 

 vince himself by the fertile effects which it 

 produces ; and, when drilled with turnip-seed, 

 the roots of the young plants will be found to 

 encircle the lumps of it, just as they do in the 

 case of crushed bones. 



If the possessor of a peat soil cannot well 

 prepare a compost of either night-soil or farm- 

 manure with the peat, he may still furnish his 

 soil with a valuable dressing, by mixing hot 

 lime and peat together, at the rate of 1 cubic 

 yard of the former with 3 or 4 cubic yards of 

 the latter. In this case it is not necessary to 

 dry the peat previously, for the lime readily 

 absorbs the water contained in it, and in the 

 course of 7 or 8 weeks the entire mass is re- 

 duced to the state of mould. From some ex- 

 periments which I have made on a small scale, 



1 have found that the addition of a portion of 

 common salt to the lime, not exceeding 1 part 

 of salt to 3 parts of lime, will still more in- 

 crease the fertilizing powers of this peat com- 

 post; but my experiments on this head require 

 repetition before I can confidently recommend 

 this plan for the farmer's adoption. 



When once the peat is well drained, a very 

 thin covering of earth will produce much 

 greater effects in forming a solid soil than the 

 farmer may imagine possible : the facility with 

 which roads are made across the extensive 

 deep Scotch peat-mosses and the great Irish 

 bogs, in some degree illustrates the same fact : 

 the bog, when once dried, is found to require 

 only a thin layer of gravel to make an excel- 

 lent road. It is true that these are apt to 

 tremble pretty considerably under the feet of 

 the plough-horses, but .they bear the heaviest 

 carriages with perfect safety, even in places 

 where the bog of peat is of a depth of from 20 

 to 40 feet. 



Peat-moss lands are commonly divided by 

 the deep ditches or channels by which they are 

 drained. 



A valuable account of the practice of Eng- 

 lish farmers in,, the improvement of peaty 

 ground, by Ph. t.t'usey, Esq., more especially 

 those of Lincolnshire, is contained in the 

 Journ. Roy. Ar. Soc. vol. ii. p. 390. 



PECK. A measure of capacity containing 



2 gallons, or the fourth of a bushel. The im- 

 perial peck contains 554-55 cubic inches. Be- 

 sides the standard peck, there are in England 



