112 FORESTS, WOODS, AND TREES 
The wet moors are unsuitable for afforestation, as trees 
cannot grow in sodden peat containing a large amount 
of water. All the peaty moorlands, in which the common 
plants are cotton-grass, Sphagnum, Scirpus caespitosus, 
heather, crowberry (Hmpetrum nigrum), and purple moor- 
grass (Molinia caerulea), cannot be planted with trees 
as long as they remain in their present condition. The 
soil is much too wet and too sour. Attempts have been 
made to cover such areas with plantations, but it is doubtful 
if this has ever been accomplished on commercial lines. 
For trees to have any chance of success, a great deal of 
preliminary work is necessary, as the peat must first be 
thoroughly drained, so that all stagnant water is removed. 
The upper surface of the peat, consisting of the roots of 
cotton-grass, Scirpus, heather, etc., matted into a tough 
fibrous sod, must be broken up and converted by decay into 
mould, before young trees can secure a footing. The 
removal of the upper layer of the peat to a depth of one 
or two feet gives young trees a better soil, but this is 
an expensive process. Probably the most economical 
method is the system (Fig. 17) introduced from Belgium 
into Scotland by Sir J. Stirling Maxwell. Shallow drains 
are made a few feet apart. The turfs, cut out of the 
drains, are placed face downwards on the intervening 
ridges and left to weather for a year. By that time the 
ground has begun to dry, the turfs have sunk considerably, 
and the herbage below them has begun to decay. On each 
inverted turf a young tree is planted, a handful of ordinary 
soil or sand being put in with each plant. Further 
particulars of the Belgian system of planting on peat 
moors will be found in Zrans. Roy. Scot. Arbor. Soc. xx. 
1-7 (1907), and xxviii. 72-78 (1914). 
Planting in the peat moors will scarcely ever be 
directly profitable, as the timber produced does not justify 
the expense. Nevertheless there is much to be said in 
favour of planting narrow belts of trees in the heather 
moor immediately above areas that are being afforested 
in the adjoining hill pasture. In hilly and mountainous 
