94 



which he is now availing himself with much spirit, and to a 

 considerable extent. 



Our great consumption of peat as fuel, assists us 

 powerfully in getting rid of the load of uncultivable ma- 

 terial that so often encumbers us. My fi'iend James 

 Scott, Esq., following the practice of his father, has 

 supplied the City of Derry with turf for very many 

 years ; and has carried off the peaty mass, some feet deep, 

 from a large area, now by his exertions bearing valuable 

 crops. 



These, at least so far as considerable extent goes, are 

 I fear solitary instances. Many circumstances must concur 

 to make this under surface fit for agricultural purposes. 

 Mr. Scott luckily has a good clay ; so I find has Mr. 

 Drummond Home ; but the under soil is seldom encou- 

 raging. When my chemical friends tried the material of 

 the substratum I sent them, (and it was a most common 

 one, a whitish ponderous viscid clay,) they found, on 

 analysing it, eighty-three parts silex, sixteen alumine, 

 and one oxide of iron ; — a soil little favourable to the pro- 

 duction of grain crops: besides, it is generally low; and 

 complete discharge of the water, attended with much dif- 

 ficulty, is indispensably necessary. We must then, in 

 ninety-nine places out of a hundred, where the upper 

 peat is cut away, look for other crops than the farinaceous, 

 and a style of culture adapted to the harsh, and more 

 generally the peaty soil we have still to work upon. 



The improvement of cut-out moss has long occupied 

 my attention : it was the first agricultural topic I ventured 

 to bring before the public, and I now resume the subject 

 with peculiar pleasure ; for I consider this species of im- 

 provement, as the most copious source extant for the 

 employment of the industrious and unoccupied; and that 



