210 THE COMPLETE FARMER 



vegetation, which can be expelled by fermentation with barn- 

 yard manure, and other suitable substances. 



The following method of preparing peat for manure is 

 extracted from a small treatise by lord Meadowbanks, which 

 was printed and distributed gratis among the Scottish pea- 

 santry, and has been highly approved of both by practical 

 and scientific cultivators. 



' Let the peat-moss, of which compost is to be formed, be 

 thrown out of the pit for some weeks or months, in order to 

 lose its redundant moisture. By this means it is rendered 

 the lighter to carry, and less compact and weighty, when 

 made up with fresh dung for fermentation ; and accordingly, 

 less dung is required for the purpose, than if the preparation 

 is made with peat taken recently from the pit. The peat 

 taken from near the surface, or at a considerable depth, an- 

 swers equally well. And the more compact the peat, and 

 the fitter to prove good fuel, so much the more promising it 

 is to be prepared for manure. 



' Take the peat-moss to a dry spot, convenient for con- 

 structing a dunghill, to serve the field to be manured. Lay 

 the cart-loads of it in two rows, and of the dung in a row 

 betwixt them. The dung thus lies on the area of the com- 

 post dunghill, and the rows of peat should be near enough 

 each other, that workmen in making up the compost may 

 be able to throw them together by the spade. In making 

 up, let the workmen begin at one end ; and at the extremity 

 of the row of dung, (which should not extend quite so far at 

 that end as the rows of peat on each side of it do,) let them 

 lay a bottom of peat, six inches deep, and fifteen feet wide. 

 Then thiow forward, and lay about ten ir.ches of dung above 

 the bottom of peat ; then four or five of dung ; and then 

 cover it over with peat at the end where it was begun, at 

 the two sides, and above. The compost should not be 

 raised above four feet and a half high, otherwise it is apt to 

 press too heavily on the under parts, and check the fermen- 

 tation : unless the peat, when dry, be very puffy and light, 

 and then a much greater height is desirable. Neither should 

 it be much lower, otherwise it will prove wanting in the 

 compactness, and soon also, if the weather is very dry, in 

 the moisture required for the ingredients of which it con- 

 sists to act chemically on each other. When a beginning 

 is thus made, the workmen will proceed working backwards, 

 and adding to the column of compost as they are furnished 

 with the three rows of materials directed to be laid down for 



