1921.] 



The Improvement of Peaty Soils. 



1109 



£24 7s. 6d. spent per acre in the reclamation led to an increased 

 annual rental of only 3s. 2d. 



The most interesting case is that of Dartmoor. Somewhere 

 about 1780, Mr. Gullet began reclamation on the farm which 

 is now known as Prince Hall, and Mr. Bray began at Bairdown 

 Farm. Gullet was succeeded by Mr. Justice Buller, who, we 

 are informed by Robert Fraser in his Survey of 1794, " finding 

 that his health was greatly improved by the purity of the air," 

 settled on the moor at Prince Hall and started farming; his 

 successor, G. W. Fowler, continued the work from 1846 on- 

 wards. But the great 18th century improver of Dartmoor was 

 Sir Thomas Tyrwhitt, of Princetown, an account of whom was 

 published by Mr. J. Bocking-Bowe in the Devon Association 

 Proceedings for 1905.* In 1854, Henry Tanner, estate agent 

 of Exeter, published a prize essay on " The Cultivation of 

 Dartmoor as a source of employment for the unemployed 

 population of the district," and claimed that oats, vetches, 

 clovers, grasses, rape, turnips and swedes could all be grown 

 successfully. He was very hopeful about reclaiming the moor. 



An account of the old Prison Farm is given by Mr. F. Pun- 

 chard, in the Journal of the Boyal Agricultural Society for 

 1890, t showing that land previously rush -covered was then 

 carrying a bullock per acre in summer, while distinctly good 

 results were obtained on arable land. The present day con- 

 dition of the farm hardly comes up to Mr. Punchard's account, 

 no doubt because of the difference in the amount of labour 

 available. 



The land was first trenched, then drained, sown with rape 

 which was fed off with sheep, followed by swedes fed off with 

 sheep also receiving cake and corn, then followed 2 or 3 years 

 of seeds, then barley with which was sown the following 

 mixture of grasses, which were intended to remain 

 permanently: perennial rye 8 lb., Italian rye 4 lb., cocksfoot 

 3 lb., meadow grass, timothv and meadow foxtail 2 lb. each, 

 fescue 1 lb., cowgrass, trefoil and white clover 3 lb. each, 

 alsike lib. ; in all, 34-36 lb. per acre. 



During the War a considerable scheme was undertaken by 

 the Duchy of Cornwall, under the supervision of Mr. H. 

 Vendelmans, a Belgian expert. 



The area under treatment lies to the east of Princetown. It 

 stands at an altitude ranging from 900 ft. to 1,250 ft. above 



* Other information is contained in the notes to " Dartmoor," a poem by 

 N. T. Oarrington (1826). 

 + Series 3. Vol. 1, p. 534. 



