M O N I V A. 379 



expenfe of gravelling an acre at the firft, is, at 

 the leaft, from four to fix pounds ; and as you 

 proceed further into the bog, the expenfe muft 

 increafe; therefore where dung is to be had in 

 plenty, it is the heft material for reclaiming a 

 bog; but I think that compofts made with lime 

 and earth mixed, or lime and moor, may an- 

 fwer the end of dung, which I have not yet 

 iufriciently tried, but intend fo to do. 



To enumerate feveral other drains which I 

 made in the eaft and fouth bogs, to prepare 

 them for reclaiming, would prove too tedious. 

 I ufually cut them ten feet wide ; but it is diffi- 

 cult in a wet bog to afcertain the depth of a 

 drain until the bog has fubfided for years. In 

 making the drain, which I have mentioned from 

 the lake to the river, 30 or 40 men working in 

 the fame part of the drain for four or five days 

 without intermifnon, except at night, could not 

 bring the drain, in the evenings, to be deeper 

 than from one to two feet deep, and both the 

 overfeer and men were all fo out of patience, 

 that they were with difficulty perfuaded to con- 

 tinue the work ; but as I rode round the bog, I 

 obferved that the bog was fubfiding, and that 

 they were gaining the level, though they did 

 not perceive it-, for the flufti flung by the 

 fhovels out of the drain prefTed down the bog 

 and fqueezed out the water into the drain which 

 ran off, as I begun where the fall lay; the bog 

 was fo foft that the men were obliged to itand 

 upon boards as they worked, to prevent them 

 from finking : the bogs which I firft reclaimed 



are 



