i9io.] 



Reclamation of Moorland. 



207 



and the cost reduced to £4. 10s. per acre. The results have 

 been very satisfactory both financially and as a means of 

 instructing neighbouring farmers. The cost of cultivation 

 and manuring is from 15s. to 17s. 6d. per acre per annum, 

 and the value of the crop, varying according to the season, 

 is approximately double as much. The interest on the capital 

 outlay in 1904-6 was about 9 per cent, on the sanded area, 

 and 19 per cent, on the remainder — owing to the smaller 

 initial expenditure. 



Bavaria. — The area of moorland in Bavaria is returned at 

 360,000 acres, and the State have for many years taken active 

 measures to encourage its proper cultivation. A staff of 

 engineers is maintained to give free advice and direct assist- 

 ance in connection with all proposals for drainage and 

 the improvement of the land. In 1900 a Central Institute 

 was established at Munich to assist and advise owners as to 

 the best means of cultivating their moorland properties. It 

 has four experimental stations and four sub-stations in 

 different parts of the country, and its total expenditure in 

 1907 amounted to ^8,200, of which about ,£5,800 came from 

 State sources. A Moor Culture Commission has also been 

 appointed by the Ministry of the Interior. 



Austria. — Experiments in the manuring of moorland were 

 carried out by the Agricultural Experimental Station in 

 Vienna at the beginning of the 'seventies, and this work was 

 gradually extended until in 1904 a special section of the 

 station with an experimental farm was established to deal 

 with the subject. This farm covers about 55 acres, and com- 

 prises an experimental area of 5 acres, whilst the remainder 

 is managed on practical lines as a model holding. 



Experimental or demonstration fields varying in size from 

 2 J to 10 acres are arranged in different parts of the country 

 by making a grant to some intelligent farmer and supplying 

 him with seed and manures, and in special cases even imple- 

 ments, free, the farmer for his part undertaking to manage 

 the field according to the instructions of the station and to 

 provide the necessary labour. 



Many of the v Austrian moors are partly owned in common 

 or are in the hands of numerous small owners, in a way 

 which renders any general improvement difficult. The 



