FARMERS' REGISTER— PEET MOSSES AND SHELL MARL. 



91 



The great value of such a bed of marl ought to 

 be a powerful inducement to every one that posses- 

 ses any moss grounds to search them carefully, and 

 particularly in their deepest recesses, and even be- 

 neath their immediate subsoil, for this important 

 article of manure. 



Mr. Dempster hath sold from the bottom of this 

 moss, marl to the extent of upwards of £12,000 

 sterling, or at the rate of £1000 per annum, ever 

 since the period it was drained, which is about 

 twelve years ago : and the quantity that remains 

 is yet very great. 



The immensity of time that I apprehend it would 

 take to form so vast a collection oi^such minute shell 

 animals is beyond our conception, if we might be 

 permitted to judge from natural causes and effects. 



This valley, when it ceased to be a lake, from 

 circumstances now to us incomprehensible, unless 

 the vast accumulation of shells can be deemed a 

 sufficient cause, seems to have acquii-ed a surface 

 fit for the production of trees : for all the under 

 layers of the moss, next to tlie marl, are composed 

 of roots, stems and branches of alder, birch, hazel 

 (with the nuts of this last tree externally entire,) 

 and some oaks of considerable size. 



It hath been supposed possilsle that this collec- 

 tion of trees may have been floated from the high- 

 er grounds ; but it is not probable that all these 

 trees could be deposited in this manner, as there is 

 no appearance of any rivulet having ever run into 

 the valley. It may rather be presumed that the 

 sediment of water, percolating from the adjacent 

 grounds, may have formed above the marl a soil 

 proper for the growth of trees. 



From a wood, the valley must have been trans- 

 formed into a peat bog or moss, probably by a 

 stagnation of water which would naturally occa- 

 sion the destruction of the trees and the growth of 

 aquatic plants, which, in such situations, accumu- 

 late and never fall into a state of total decomposi- 

 tion. The peat matter is found about six feet thick 

 above the marl, and at the time of the drainage its 

 surface Avas covered over with heath. 



By drainage and the consequent alteration of 

 the nature of the soil, the heath has been entirely 

 obliterated, and the moss, even at the surface, 

 formed into a fine light mould, and covered with 

 grass, coarse indeed in general ; but where it hath 

 been gravelled for a road, it is not unworthy of 

 notice, that it is swarded at the sides Avith the 

 finest pasture grasses and clovers : Couch grass or 

 twitch (triticum repeiis) was there also particu- 

 larly observable. 



This moss hath been drained by one deep cut 

 through the middle of it, and through a sand bank 

 of the depth of thirty feet Avhich obstructed the is- 

 sue of the water. The drainage, however, having 

 been intended for the purpose only of obtaining 

 the marl, no artificial general improvement of the 

 surface of the ground has yet taken place ; but by 

 every appearance, Avhen it shall be done, the crops 

 artbrded will be uncommonly luxuriant, from the 

 decomposed nature of the moss, caused by its be- 

 ing so long in a drained state. Mr. Dempster 

 hath enclosed, levelled and dug over with the 

 spade about six acres of it, which he means to sow 

 with grass seeds next spring, withoutany corn crop. 



Here are observable some holes Avhich had been 

 dug to the bottom of the moss, containing stagna- 

 ted water, but now almost filled up again, to the 

 level of the general surface, by bog moss or fog 



(sphagnum palustre) not yet solid ; a plain exam- 

 ple of the quick reproduction of peat matter by 

 the growth of vegetables of the moss or musci 

 tribe. 



It is also to be remarked, that the peat earth at 

 the bottom of this moss, which appears to have a 

 small mixture of clay, is very solid, and, when 

 cut into peats and dried, makes excellent fuel; 

 and Mr. Dempster observes that firm peats of this 

 sort, and particularly what is found on some of the 

 Highland grounds of Scotland is very little infe- 

 rior to coal. He burns such peats commonly 

 himself, and has sold many hundred pounds worth 

 to his neighbors from this moss. Their ashes also 

 arc valuable for manure, and, by slow and con- 

 fined combustion, may be produced from the peat 

 in considerable quantity. 



Tlie moss of Dunnichen in the parish of the 

 same name, now partly under culture, is situated 

 near four hundred feet above the level of the sea 

 in a small valley kept wet, like that of Resteneth, 

 by a copious spring of water, and also by sui'face 

 waters descending in rainy seasons from the high- 

 er grounds. 



It consisted of fifty nine acres, mostly of peat 

 soil, shallow at the margin, but deepening to 15 feet 

 towards the middle. The drainage of it, which 

 was accomplished forty years ago, at the expense 

 of £50, was orignially intended merely for the 

 purpose of procuring, more easily, peats for fuel, 

 of which the country stood in great need. Be- 

 neath tlie peat soil was found, on cutting a deep 

 level, a layer of sand mixed with a little mud, six 

 feet thick, and immediately under the sand, in some 

 places, beds of marl, mixed, howe;v^er, considerably 

 with sand. 



On the subject of marl as connected with moss, 

 it may not be improper to observe, that though 

 the common practice of searching for marl is by the 

 boring irons used in trying for coal and other hard 

 mineral substances, yet Mr. Dempster very judi- 

 ciously r.dvises rather to make use of a long wood- 

 en pole for this purpose, with an iron auger fixed 

 to its end. This makes the operation of boring for 

 marl both cheap and easy. A pole of twenty five 

 feet, he thinks, will, in general, be of sufficient 

 length. If the moss be found to be deeper than 

 this, it is easy to join another pole to the first, or 

 to obtain a new one of a greater length. 



Shell marl is found in the bottom of the gene- 

 rality of lakes, and of meadows and mosses which 

 have once been lakes, throughout Great Britain 

 and Ireland. It is the remains of myriads of those 

 sorts of small testaceous animals which commonly 

 inhabit pools of water, and have lived and died in 

 those situations. 



Some of those shells are univalves, (generally 

 Helix, animal L,imax, Lin.) others are bivalves, 

 (generally Tellina, animal Tethys, Lin.) and are 

 frequently very entire when taken up ; but after a 

 short exposure to the atmosphere, they crumble 

 into a fine whitish powder which efTervesces with 

 acids, and is, in fact, no way different from pow- 

 dered limestone. It is commonly more pure from 

 foreign and useless ingredients than most lime- 

 stones. Some moss marl, examined by Dr. Co- 

 ventry, Professor of Agriculture at Edinburgh, 

 Avas found to contain 84 per cent, of pure chalk or 

 carbonate of lime, which is more than lime gene- 

 rally possesses, and the refuse of the marl was 

 chiefly peaty substance, which makes the refuse 



