BOGS. 73 



bogs there is always a ftratum if not equally folid with the black 

 bog, nearly fo, and makes as good fuel. There is upon the 

 black as well as the red ones a furface of that fpungy vegetable 

 mafs which is cleared away to get at the bog for fuel, but it is 

 fnallow on thefe. Sound trees are found equally in both forts. 

 Both differ extremely from the bogs I have feen in England in 

 the inequality of the furface ; the Irifh ones are rarely level 

 but rife into hills. I have feen one in Donnegal which is a per- 

 fect fcenery of hill and dale. The fpontaneous growth moll 

 common is heath ; with fome bog myrtle, rufhes and a little 

 fedgy grafs. As far as I can judge by roads, laying gravel of 

 any ibrr, clay, earth, &c. improves the bog, and brings good 

 grafs. The depth of them is various, they have been fathom- 

 ed to that of fifty feet, and fome are faid to be ftill deeper. 



From thefe circumftances it appears, that a foreil cut, burnt, 

 or broken down, is probably the origin of a bog. In all coun- 

 tries where wood is fo common as to be a weed, it is deftroy- 

 ed by burning, it is fo around the Baltic, and in America at 

 prefent. The native Irifh might cut and burn their woods 

 enough for the tree to fall, and in the interim between fuch an 

 operation, and fuccefiive culture, wars and other inteftine di- 

 vifions might prevent it in thofe fpots, which fo neglected af- 

 terwards became bogs. Trees lying very thick on the ground 

 would become an impediment to all ftreams and currents, and 

 gathering in their branches, whatever rubbifh fuch waters 

 brought with them, form a rnafs of a fubftance which time 

 might putrefy, and give that acid quality to, which would 

 preferve fome of the trunks though not the branches of the 

 trees. The circumftance of red bogs being black and folid at 

 the bottom, would feem to indicate that a black bog has re- 

 ceived lefs acceflion from the growth and putrefaction of vege- 

 tables after the formation than the red ones, which from fome 

 circumthmces of foil or water might yield a more luxuriant 

 Jurface vegetation, till it.produced that mafs of fpunge which 

 is now found on the furface. That this fuppolition is quice fa- 

 tisfactory I cannot aflert, but the effect appears to be at leaft 

 pollibie, and accounts for the diftinction between the two 

 kinds. That they receive their form and increafe from a con- 

 ftant vegetation appear from their rifing into hills, if they did 

 not vegetate the quuitity of water they contain would keep 

 them on a level. The places where the traces of ploughing 

 are found, 1 Ihould fuppofe were cnce fields adjoining to the 

 woods, and when the bog rofe to a certain height it flowed gra- 

 dually over the furrounding land. 



But the means of improving them is the mod important con- 

 flderation at prefent. Various methods have been prefcribed, 

 and fome fmall improvements have been effected by a few gen- 

 tlemen, but at fo large an expence that it is a queftion how far 

 their operations anfwered. Here, therefore, one muft call in 

 theory to our aid from a deficiency of practice. Fortunately for 

 f bog improver, drains are cut at fo fmall an expeace, in them, 



thai 



