1 84 A ti?:eatise on the connection of 



than is at present incurred by any application or dressing, 

 to ground, could not fail to ansAver the expectation of the 

 farmer, and must be considered as one of the most va- 

 luable improvements that has hitherto occurred in the- 

 annals of husbandry. 



The primary step towards improving a peat moss, is 

 to take off by proper channels the great feeder of water. 

 This is to be effe<?ted by condufling one or more princi- 

 pal drains through the moss, and by water courses on the 

 solid or dry land, immediately above the level of the 

 moss, so that it shall not be inundated by the surface 

 water or springs of the surrounding higher lands, and 

 shall afterwards only require to be freed from the water 

 that shall fall on its superficies. This being accomplished, 

 the intermediate parts of the bog should be drained, 

 partly by open and partly by covered drains; care being 

 taken, that they are not made so deep as to lay the mos3 

 or bog too dry ; by which the peat, becoming oxygenated, 

 and thence insoluble, would be incapable of yielding food 

 to vegetables. By the opposite extreme, unprofitable 

 grasses and aquatic vegetables are produced. It is there- 

 fore an object of great importance, in efFeding the drain«- 



agc„ 



