S9 



the present Lord Colchester, an amateur. 1 shall quote 

 his own words. 



" I now inquired for my friend's experiments on bog, 

 " particularly on cut-out moss ; being well aware of the 

 " great benefit that might be derived from that descrip- 

 " tion of ground being made productive. 



** He took me to the place where he had cut turf last 

 " year, laying it down in September 1808. The crop 

 " her^ seemed equal to any I had examined, and was 



in beautiful verdure. As I considered this description 

 ** of ground as my principal object of inquiry, I was very 

 " particular, and made the mower cut in different places. 



1 found the sward enormous." 



I shall produce but one witness more to establish my 

 successful practice of converting cut-out moss into most 

 valuable meadows ; a name wliich I know will be respected 

 by every English agriculturist. 



Mr. Curwen was so good as to visit me, and inspected 

 my crops of every description with much attention, and 

 published his report upon them on his return. When he 

 comes to the conversion of cut-out moss into meadow, he 

 says : 



" The view of this could not fail of moving the most 

 " phlegmatic. My friend's persevering labours have de- 

 " monstrated the practicabihty of converting millions 

 " of acres in the United Empire, which are now unpro- 

 " ductive : — what a benefit, to draw from a lifeless mass 

 " an equivalent of victual, to the major part of what 

 " is under tillage ! Permit me to say, in a country that has 

 ** so much worthy of admiration, no sight has afforded 

 ** me more gratification than such a produce on a lifeless 

 " bog. What a source of riches is here !" 



The calculation I have made above, of the quantity of 



