387 



from time immemorial, from twato three feet high. Having previously 

 ascertained that there were no great underground springs, I directed the 

 whole to be trenched, eighteen inches deep. The trenching was effec- 

 tively executed in the line of the slope or declination of the surface, so 

 that, if any interstitial mounds of subsoil (see the foregoing Note) hzid 

 been inadvertently left in the bottom, no obstruction, after rain, should 

 be given to the speedy descent of the water. The surface mould not 

 being above six inches deep, the whole was deposited by the first spit, 

 at the bottom of the trench- The next six inches consisted of strong 

 loamy clay, and were tiirown immediately upon the first ; and the last 

 six inches, which were of as obdurate a clay [Scoitice till) as could well 

 be imagined, formed the top of the new surface. 



Being in haste to return the land to its former condition of meadow, 

 I did not bestow the proper time, as I ought to have done, in working 

 it, by means of a complete summer-fallow, or drill-crops well manured; 

 but, after merely reducing the clay to a good state of pulverization, I 

 gave it an abundant top-dressing, first of mild lime, and then of dung- 

 compost, prepared with peat-moss, according to Lord Meadowbank's 

 method, and immediately sowed it down with grass-seeds. This took 

 place in 1810. The hay-crop that followed was immense. It has been 

 cut in hay repeatedly since that period, and twice dressed with lime- 

 compost : but since the time of the trenching (now seventeen years), 

 not a rush has ventured to put up its head. Had the cure been only 

 termporary, rushes certainly would have appeared again in greater lux- 

 uriance, in consequence of the culture, after the third or fetlf!!r season. 

 - The next experiment I tried, was on the sheepwallt of the park, of 

 which a particular quarter, near the margin of the lake, "being of strong 

 rich loam, eight or nine inches deep, with a clayey subsoil, was apt to 

 be rushy, after being some years in pasture. This space of ground ex- 

 tended to about four acres. It was trenched in 1821, nearly twenty 

 inches deep. It was treated nearly in the same style as the meadow 

 just now mentioned, and got the same dressing of lime and compost 

 slightly ploughed in, and completely pulverized, and was then sown down 

 in pasture. After six years, I can truly say, that no rush has ever ap- 

 peared upon it ; and now, after another year, (in October, 1828), I can 

 attest the same result. — Let it be observed, that this experiment differed 

 somewhat from the other ; for pasture immediately succeeded the sow- 

 ing down, and no cutting of ha)'^ took pla^e. 



In 1822, I made various other trials, all attended with the same uni- 

 form success. From one and all of them I was led to the conclusion, 

 that in deep trenching on cultivated land, properly executed, a certain 



