j 7 o ACCOUNT of PEAT-MOSSES 



weather, it was repeatedly plowed and burnt, fo as to be con- 

 verted into a manure for the clay that was under it*. 



This could only be done where the mcfs was thin. Where 

 it was too thick to be reclaimed in this manner, the people 

 contented themfelves with improving the furface, by plowing 

 the allies into it, or by laying upon it clay brought from the 

 adjacent cultivated grounds. The progrefs, however, that was 

 made in the cultivation of the mofs by thefe methods was never 

 very confiderable ; and therefore, for fome time pad, they have 

 given place to that of floating off the whole body of the mofs by 

 water, except a ftratum two or three inches thick in contact with 

 the clay. The foil thus cleared of mofs is excellent, and is found 

 to let immediately for 15 s* per acre. This operation of floating 

 is rendered practicable by the peculiar nature of this mofs, 

 which, as has been faid, is fuperinduced upon the original foil, 

 fo that the clay under it is on a level with the adjoining culti- 

 vated grounds.. 



This method of cultivation is fuppofed to have been prac- 

 tifed on the moffes betwixt the Forth and Carron about the be- 

 ginning of the prefent century, where it is computed, that above 

 6oq acres have been cleared with the water collected from the 



mofs 



* The peopJe engaged in this work have their houfes in the mofs. Thefe are 

 at firft fometimes built of fod, fupported by a frame of wood, laid on the furface of 

 the mofs; but as foon as any progrefs is made in clearing the ground, they are cut out 

 of the mofs itfelf. For that purpofe, a drain is cut through the mofs, and at lean 

 a foot deep into the clay, as far as the intended houfe is to reach ; a fpace from two 

 to fix yards wide, is then cleared all round it ; and laftly the area of the houfe is alfo 

 cleared, leaving a wall of mofs on every fide, about- four feet and a half thick, at 

 bottom, and three feet thick at top. The feet of the cupples which are to fupport 

 the roof are inferted into this wall, but do not reft upon it, as they reach as low 

 as the clay, from which they rife up, nearly perpendicularly, as far as the top of 

 the wall. The gables are completed with fod or mud. As the mofs-walls dry, 

 and are confolidated, what was originally ten or twelve feet high, finks down to 

 the height of. five or fix feet, 



