26 Soil. 



ley have succeeded on such lands, after they have been sup- 

 plied with abundance of calcareous earth ; and the fiorin 

 grass, (Agrostis stolonifera latifolia\ seems likewise to be 

 well adapted to that description of soil, when moderately 

 surface-drained. 



The first step towards the improvement of moss, or other 

 wet or marshy peat soil, is to relieve it of all stagnant mois- 

 ture. Wherever springs start up, they must be completely 

 drained, and such open drains, or furrows, should be made on 

 the surface of the moss, as may be necessary to free every 

 part of it from superfluous moisture. In forming ridges on 

 the moss, they ought to be raised no higher than to make the 

 water fall readily into the furrows ; and these should be care- 

 fully formed, so as to allow no water to remain any where 

 on the surface of the moss land. If this be done, no farther 

 draining is at all necessary, or can be of use, but the reverse. 

 Soft black peat-earth, when drained, is often rendered pro- 

 ductive, merely by the application of sand and clay as a top- 

 dressing. When peat contains ferruginous salts, calcareous 

 matter is absolutely necessary to fit it for cultivation. When 

 mosses or bogs abound with the branches, or the roots of 

 trees, or when the surface entirely consists of living vege- 

 tables, they must either be carried off, or burnt. In the 

 last case, their ashes furnish ingredients calculated to im- 

 prove the texture of the peat. For this soil, soap-ashes are 

 found an excellent manure. 



In Leicestershire, and other counties, there are great 

 tracts of meadow land, which, in many instances, are the sites 

 of lakes filled up, the soil of Which is composed of peat and 

 sediment ; the former originally formed by aquatic vegeta- 

 tion, and the latter brought down by rains and streams 

 from the upland. This forms a soil admirably calculated 

 for grass ( 88 ). 



Tne fens in Cambridgeshire, Lincolnshire, and several 

 other districts in England, likewise consist of peat and se- 

 diment. They are pared and burnt for cole-seed, to be fed 

 off by sheep, which, by their manure, enrich the soil. Af- 

 ter two crops of grain, they are sown with grass-seeds, (two 

 bushels of rye-grass, and eight or ten pounds of white clo- 

 ver), and remain in grass for five, six, or seven years ( 89 ) ; the 

 longer the better. In the fens, beans and turnips have been 

 cultivated, but have not been found to answer ; nor can fen 

 land be fallowed with advantage ; for it does not bear much 

 stirring. On such soils, potatoes, and above all carrots, have 

 been tried as an intervening crop, and with much success. 



