504 TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION K. 



matter to a peaty soil improves the herbage, it is rarely that this knowledge 

 is acted upon. In one case a portion of peaty pasture looked far better than 

 the rest : the farmer explained this as being the result of the application of 

 road scrapings to the plot two years previously. On another farm some old 

 mortar and gravel, after building, had been spread over a peaty tract. The 

 parts not treated had the usual thick tufts of withered A^ardns, sedges, and 

 Fesfuca ovina, while the treated part had succulent, closely-grazed grass, with 

 numerous patches a foot or more in diameter of white clover. Yet with this 

 object-lesson before him the farmer had made no attempt to apply its teachings. 

 In one case where the peat was not very deep it was suggested to the farmer 

 that if he ploughed two furrows deep so as to bring up some of the boulder 

 clay it might be beneficial. This he did, with the result that the crop of oats 

 he obtained the following season was the best in the whole district. 



Experiments have been carried out by the North Wales University College 

 Agricultural Department in the use of mineral fertilisers for improving the 

 herbage of peaty pastures : these show conclusively that phosphates, particularly 

 slag and lime, encourage the growth of the finer grasses and of white clover, 

 and the treated plots show the difference in the greater closeness with which 

 they are grazed. 



The second type of deep peat is found along the coast of Cardigan Bay, 

 and in one or two bogs further inland, but at an altitude not much above 

 sea-level. The peats appear to be of lacustrine or estuarine origin, and may 

 be comparable to the German ' Niederungsmoor. ' They differ, however, from 

 peats of this class in other localities in their lack of calcium carbonate. Their 

 vegetation is, however, slightly more varied than the ' Hochmoor ' peats, 

 suggesting less acidity. Some of them are half-cultivated ; others yield only 

 rough grazing, and at present no systematic attempts are made at draining 

 and improving them, so that they only produce a fraction of what they are 

 capable of under proper treatment. The greatest trouble is drainage. As 

 mentioned above, this involves co-operation, together with some amount of 

 compulsion to induce the farmers to keep the drains clear. Sa long as a farmer 

 has dry, loamy soil on his farm, he will not trouble to improve the wetter 

 portions. In one very instructive case a farmer gave up his ' rough grazing ' 

 to a small holder, who now has made out of the rushy, sedgy, reedy tract of 

 wet peat an excellent little farm, producing heavy crops. 



In most of the cases under discussion there are, close by, large banks of 

 sand and gravel which might, at a very trifling cost, be utilised to ameliorate 

 the peat and to correct its too great richness in organic matter. Strange to- say, 

 no attempt is ever made to carry out this obvious method of improvement. As 

 for any of the special methods employed on the Continent, such as the Rimpau 

 system, trenching, &c., it is needless to say that they are quite unknown in 

 the district. 



In conclusion, we maintain that, though the extensive peaty areas in the 

 county are very acid and cold, and, as such, inferior to ordinary loams, they 

 can still be made productive. It is evident that before they can be satisfactorily 

 tackled some amount of experimental work must be done. Investigations 

 should be carried out, partly on the lines of the Continental work, and partly 

 on lines which suggest themselves to the local scientific workers. It is to be 

 regretted that up to the present we have very few experiments on peat in 

 Britain. 



Much might be done at once in the light of knowledge at present available. 

 Such improvements need not consist of large schemes. The cultivator could 

 try to effect improvements on his patch of waste, bearing in mind the chief 

 needs for amelioration : 



1. Thorough drainage. 



2. Addition of inorganic matter to correct excess of organic matter (on deep 



peats). 



3. Correction of acidity by use of lime or ground limestone. 



4. Addition of plant food — ^chiefly phosphates. 



The obstacles to improvement are to a great extent economic. Some of them 

 have already been mentioned : there are others, such as the high cost of labour, 

 the want of recognition of the value of land, and the lack of organised assistance 



