52 



The Improvement of Peaty Soils. 



[Apr., 



THE IMPROVEMENT OF PEATY 

 SOILS. 



PAET II.— THE SILTY AND SANDY PEATS. 



E. J. Russell, D.Sc, F.R.S., ^ 



Director of the Rothamsted Experimerital Station. 



In Part I of this article, published in the March issue of 

 the Journal, j^. 1104, Dr. Russell gave an account of the 



True Peats " in low-lying and high-lying districts, and 

 the method of reclamation. 



These soils form a transition between the true peats and true 

 soils ; they arise in conditions where bacterial action goes on more 

 slowly than in ordinary soils, but more quickly than in true 

 peats; organic matter, therefore, accumulates but without 

 forming a separate vegetable layer. They may also arise when 

 a true peat, after drainage, shrinks and finally disappears, again 

 exposing the old surface on which it had rested. 



In general these soils present greater possibilities of reclama- 

 tion than the peats. They usually have the same defects as the 

 peats, viz., wetness, acidity and lack of phosphates, but in a less 

 intense form; it was through these defects that the soil bacteria 

 were unable to complete their work, and until they are remedied 

 crops cannot make proper growth. 



Silty Peats. — An interesting example of the silty peats is 

 found in Bodmin moor, Cornwall. The elevation is 800 to 

 1.000 ft. and the rainfall probably about 40 to 50 in. ; both are 

 high enough to interfere with ordinary agricultural processes 

 and with the decomposition of plant residues in the soil, but the 

 conditions are more favourable than on the higher lying Dart- 

 moor, and in consequence there is considerably less deposit of 

 layers of peat. The composition of much of the moor soil is 

 different from normal agricultural soil in its higher content of 

 organic matter, but it is by no means as far removed from 

 normal soil as is peat. 



It is possible also that peat may have occurred on some of these 

 areas, but if so it has been denuded subsequently faster than it 

 could be reformed. Some of these soils have the composition 

 shown in the table on the next page. 



In all cases except Laneast the surface soil was black, imder- 

 lain by a band of broken stone ; lower down was a reddish yellow 

 subsoil. Where drainage is possible there is no insuperable 



