166 FOREST PLANTING. 



depth of about eight inches. On a warm, sunny day in 

 early summer burning over the peaty ground begins, 

 and for that purpose little heaps of the lightest and dry- 

 est soil, in distances of from forty to fifty feet, are raked 

 up and kindled in such a way that the heaps lying to 

 the windward are ignited first. When these heaps are 

 fairly burning, panfuls of the burning soil are taken up 

 and the ignited turf is scattered all over the spaces be- 

 tween the heaps till the whole area is on fire. The op- 

 eration is generally done during the noontime, when Avind 

 and heat are strong, and in such manner that the opera- 

 tor commences kindling from that part of the moor 

 which is situated in the face of the wind, working up 

 his way against the wind. In doing so the fire pene- 

 trates from three to four inches into the soil and leaves 

 an ash layer of the same thickness. As soon as the 

 fire has done its woi'k and the smoke is cleared away, 

 the best we can do to make the moor pay for the ex- 

 penses caused by this culture, is to soav buckwheat even 

 upon the warm ashes, as this grain, under favorable cir- 

 cumstances, may yield the richest crop ever harvested. 

 The best time of sowing is at the end of May. The 

 sowing is done by hand, whereupon Avith a light hand 

 harrow, the grain is covered and rolled over by a hand 

 roller. Early in fall, when most of the buckwheat ker- 

 nels have turned black, the crop is cut and left in the 

 field in swaths until dry enough to be put into little 

 heaps, which, when perfectly dry, are placed in the 

 barn. 



Every spring during the next three years, the ditches 

 should be deepened in the same proportion as the sur- 

 face soil is lowered by the burning, in order to keep the 

 ditches at a uniform depth of about twelve inches; and 

 the moor should be worked with a common, perforated 

 hand hoe and burnt over again. Buckwheat will still 



