1106 The Improvement of Peaty Soils. [Mar., 



The Belgian and Dutch methods consist in drainage, then 

 addition of sand,* followed by deep ploughing and liming. 

 The work is done by land reclamation companies! who acquire 

 considerable experience and achieve much success. An 

 interesting feature is the addition of farmyard manure. At 

 first sight this addition of organic matter to a peat soil 

 looks like " carrying coals to Newcastle," but it is founded 

 on successful practice. In Holland it is not unusual to make 

 up a heap of farmyard manure, soil, waste vegetable matter, 

 &c, and leave it for some time to " ripen," and then spread 

 it on the soil at the rate of about 2 tons per acre. The idea 

 is to introduce the necessary soil bacteria into the peat which 

 normally contains quite a different micro-organic flora. After 

 this has been done a plant of clover is said to be obtained with 

 more certainty than before. It is not clear that other crops 

 benefit directly, but of course, any improvement in the clover 

 reacts on the crops coming afterwards. 



The second type of method — the removal of the peat and 

 treatment of the underlying soil — has proved more popular in 

 England because the high market-value of peat helps to set 

 off some of the capital cost of the work. The removal and sale 

 of peat is perfectly sound in principle. Peat is an asset of con- 

 siderable value, but it is essentially a wasting asset: it 

 disappears at a measurable rate after the drainage necessary 

 now-a-davs. Under modern conditions peat cannot be con- 

 served for future generations, and we are therefore justified in 

 using it ourselves even if the process be somewhat wasteful. 



The best known example is the reclamation of Chat Moss, 

 near Manchester, on which ashpit and other city refuse was 

 carried after the peat was removed. The estate was taken 

 over by the Corporation of Manchester in 1895, and after^ 

 some adjustments consisted of 2, 536 J acres, for which £130,969 

 was paid. £60,215 was spent on erecting and laving out farms, 

 roads, light railways, &c. The rents during 1915 amounted to 

 £5,313. The very similar Carrington Estate of 1,100 acres was 

 purchased in 1886 for £39,166: nearly £44,000 was spent in 

 drainage, light railways, roads, farm buildings, &c, making 

 the total cost £83,142. The rents during 1915 amounted to 

 £2,110. Thus the increase in agricultural value is not sufficient 

 to carry the whole cost of the improvements: the City, however, 

 gains in other directions in that the areas provide convenient 



e Several attempts have been made to find out what the sand does, 

 f Such as the Nederlandscheheide Maatschappy, Arnheim. 



