623 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



[No. 9 



THE PEAT SOILS OF SCOTLAND, COMPAHED 

 WITH THE JUNIPER SOIL OF THE DISMAL 

 SWAMP. 



[The writer of the following answer, though in the 

 humble station of overseer of a farm, is an intelligent 

 and well read agriculturist as well as a hard working 

 and practical one. Supposing that he must be, from per- 

 sonal observation, well acquainted with the peats and 

 peat soils of his native country, Scotland, and therefore 

 could correctly judge of the points of difference or of 

 a-^reement between them and the soil of the Dismal 

 Swamp, a large unbroken specimen was sent to him for 

 that purpose, of the juniper soil, including both super 

 and sub-stratum, and also the cover of plants found 

 growing thereon. It was from the sub-stratum of this 

 parcel that the specimen No. 4, was taken, which was 

 stated at page 520, to lose 98 por cent, in bulli of vege- 

 table matter, by burning. — Ed ] 



To the Editor of the Fanners' Register. 



CoggMs Point, December 'Uh, 1836. 



I have examined the specimen of soil from the 

 Dismal Swamp, which j'ou sent to me, and shall 

 endeavor to point out the very close resemblance 

 Avhich it bears to the peat soils ol Scotland. To 

 make mysell" more easily understood, I shall de- 

 scribe the ditferent varieties of peats, or peat soils, 

 as they occur in Scotland, founded upon the prac- 

 tical uses made of them, and the different degrees 

 of decomposition in which the vegetable matter is 

 generally found. 



The first kmd is the solid true peat, or turf, a 

 mass of decayed vegetable matter, sufficiently firm 

 to cut easily with the spade into pieces, of the size 

 and shape of common bricks, or larger, and which, 

 when sun-dried, are ready for fuel. This solid 

 mass oiten occurs of very considerable depth. I 

 have often seen it upwards of four feet deep. 



The second kind is a similar mass al' vegetable 

 matter, only in a state of greater decomposition, 

 and after being dug out, requires to be Ifaked or 

 compressed vi'ith the hand into small cakes called 

 "peat pies," before they are laid out to dry for fuel. 



The third is the more perfectly decayed vegeta- 

 ble maiter, entirely unfit for tliel; this gcneially un- 

 derlies the two former, and often occurs of" very great 

 depths. In most of the peat mosses, (swam.ps.) 

 ii is in nearly a fluid state — and a person walking 

 on the comparatively firm surface, even in dry sea- 

 sons, will cause the earth around him for a consi- 

 derable distance, to vibrate at every step. Tlris, 

 very nearly pure vegetable matter when deprived' 

 of its superabundant water, is frequently used in a 

 compost with lime as a top-dressing on pasture 

 fields, and is also much used in comp:ists by nur- 

 serymen and horticulturists in raising maoy 

 plants, particularly heath from the south of Africa, 

 and many plants from this country, such as kal- 

 mias, azaleas, rododendrons, &c.; some deposites 

 of this contain a considerable portion of ferruginous 

 matter. 



This specimen of soil from the Dismal Swamp 

 resembles all the kinds in color, but can hardly be 

 Baid to present any other resemblance to the first. 

 Decomposition in this country, f presume, lakes 

 place too rapidly to admit of such a Ibrmation. But 

 all of the specimen of surface soil (about six 



inches deep,) above the slimy mud, presents a very 

 close, if not identical resemblance to the second 

 kind above de.scribed, and in Scotland, would be 

 termed peat earth. In burning, it presents the very 

 same ajjpijarances, and emits while l)urning the 

 same strong, but not disagreeable smell — a smell 

 distinct from that of any other among vegetable 

 matter witli which I am acquainted, and which ad- 

 Jieres tenaciously to every thing with v.hich it comes 

 in contact. When used' as a iiiel in the distillation 

 ol spirits, it imparts to tlie spirits the same peculiar 

 flavor, and it is generally much esteemed. 



The specimens of crypiogamous plants accom- 

 panying the soil; particularly the mosses '^Masci') 

 are the same, or at farthest, only diflerent varieties 

 of the same species, as are indig'cnous to every 

 peat moss in Scotljind. In the specimen of these 

 were a fsw dried 'leaves of fern, .(filices,) and 

 which from it.s appearance, I judge to be the ne- 

 phrodium lobatum, which though not growing ex- 

 tensively in the peat mosses of Scotland, is to be 

 found in the neighborhood of springs in sheltered 

 situations on soils of this nature. In wet and 

 swampy situations in this country, I have seen 

 many plants of the sweet gale (mrjrica gali) grow- 

 ing, and" Vv'hich also are plentiful on some of the 

 peat soils of Scotland — with this difference, that in 

 this country they are indeciduous, in Scotland they 

 are deciduous; and I presume, the same plaut 

 abounds in the Dismal Swamp. 



The masses of vegetable matter in the peat 

 mosses oj Scotland consist principally of a great 

 variety of mosses — a few only of the fern tribe, 

 which require more silex for their growth than is 

 generally to be found in the real peat mosses — 

 large quantities of coarse grasses also abound, 

 these decaying more rapidly than the other species 

 of plants, appear to form the principal earthy in- 

 gredient fbuncrtn the true peat. The heath which 

 principally abounds in such situations, is the erica 

 vulgaris. Altogether these peat mosses present a 

 barren, naked and cheerless aspect. 



These peat mosses though generally considered 

 as resting on a gravel bottom, are not without many 

 exceptions: the boLtoms of some of them, which 

 have been reached, rest on a stiff tenacious clay. 

 An extensive peat moss near Sterling, from which 

 a great portion of the peat soil has been removed, 

 presents this latter appearance, and is now becom- 

 ing a rich and productive soil. The acent employed 

 in removing this soil was water, aided by having 

 ditches or canals cut whei'e necessaiy. The almost 

 incredible masses of this species of soil thus remov- 

 ed and carried by streams of water into the river 

 Forth, and becoming united with other alluvion, 

 has been the means of forming some rich alluvial 

 deposites' on the shores at the head of the estuary 

 of the same nairie, into which that river empties 

 itself. In one place, a flirm of considerable extent 

 has thus, with the aid of embankment (so formed 

 as to admit the flow of the tide, and (o retain the 

 alluvial matter contained in the water,) been form- 

 ed ; and what was less than twenty years ago a 

 bay covered by the waters oi" the German Ocean, 

 is now a rich and fertile soil. In some instances, 

 these peat mosses cover soils to a great depth, 

 which at an early period, appear to have been co- 

 vered with Ibrest trees of large size, many of which 

 are frequently found, and some oaks in a state of 

 excellent preservation. 



The soil of the greater part of the heath-covered 



