HARVESTTXG THE PEAT. 



'35 



two-bladed spade with one blade at right angles to the other, in 

 order to loosen the turves on both sides at once ; it is used in 

 the Rhine provinces. Fig. 320 is a spade used for vertical 

 digging in Upper Bavaria, the turves being cut on all sides with 



Fig. 321. 



Fig. 317 



it. Fig. 321 represents a spade used in North East Germany to 

 remove the useless superficial turf and sods of earth. A three- 

 pronged fork resembling an ordinary dung-fork is generally used 

 for putting the turves into barrows or carts for transport. 



iv. Digging Turves. 



There are two methods of digging turves, termed respectively 

 the horizontal and vertical methods. The former method is 

 almost universally employed in North Germany and is common 

 in the Rhenish Provinces, and South Germany. The vertical 

 method is practised in some Upper Bavarian bogs and in the 

 Baltic Provinces. In the horizontal method, a workman begin- 

 ning at the top edge of the wall of peat, cuts the vertical lines 

 of a turf with the Frisian spade, whilst another workman 

 standing in the trench, cuts the turf horizontally and sideways 

 from the bank of peat. 



In the vertical method, the workman standing on the top of 



