176 A PRACTICAL TREATISE 



barley and turnips, it is usual to sow it in with the last har- 

 rowing- of the seed, and then to finish by rolling-. The com- 

 mon price at most malt-kilns is from five to six shillings per 

 quarter. 



CHAPTER XIV. 



MISCELLANEOUS MANURES CONTINUED. PEAT MOSS. 



Peat-moss, which is universally considered as an inert mass 

 of half-corrupted vegetable matter, has been long applied to 

 land in different ways, and, when burned, has been already 

 treated of in the chapter on Ashes, When reduced to that 

 state, it is of course rendered light by combustion, and con- 

 sequently so portable as to be easily conveyed to any part of 

 the kingdom; but it is only in the immediate neighbourhood 

 of bogs that it can be used in its natural state, for, even when 

 dried by exposure to the air, its bulk is too great to admit of 

 its being carried to any great distance, unless at such expense 

 as would render its application as manure unprofitable. 



It has been extensively used in its natural state in both 

 Scotland and Ireland, in various parts of which there are 

 large bogs, as well as in some parts of this country: it is, how- 

 however, very sluggish in becoming reduced, and requires two 

 or three years, with repeated turnings and exposure to the 

 atmosphere, to bring it to anything like the condition of vege- 

 tative mould ; but being of a cold nature, it is found, by a heavy 

 dressing, to cause considerable improvement in hot, gravelly, 

 and sandy soils. When brought to the decayed condition of 

 bog-mould, or rich earth, it has also been found highly useful 

 in opening stitf clay land, arid has been largely used for that 

 purpose in Ireland; but on mellow friable soils, it is stated to 

 possess too little substance to be of much utility, and it is said 

 that it inclines grass-land to the production of moss. It is 

 likewise impregnated with noxious roots and seeds of aquatic 

 grasses, which when laid on in its raw state, fill the land with 

 those nuisances ; and some farmers who have thus applied it, 

 have occasioned such injury to their grass-land, that it has not 

 recovered for several years: though a small quantity of quick- 



