Improvement of Peaty Ground. 



401 



not been required. Deep open ditches, dividin"^ the peat into 

 fields of 12 or 15 acres, have been found to lay it sufficiently dry. 



When the draining, of whatever kind, is completed, the question 

 next arises how the coarse and rushy swamp is to be brought into 

 cultivation. I must say that the practice of paring- and burning 

 the surface employed by our farmers has been justified by its 

 effects. As soon as the harsh easterly winds of spring have set 

 in, the breast-ploughs are put to work, the surface is pared and 

 turned over, and, when dry, piled in heaps and burnt to ashes. 

 The proceeding may be defended I think on these grounds : — If 

 the coarse sward filled with the roots of rushes were merely 

 ploughed over, it would not decay during the whole summer, and 

 would be far too tough and hollow for any crop that might be 

 sown on it. Again, when a fertile well-dressed surface is burnt, 

 the volatile parts of manure which it contains may be dissi- 

 pated by fire, but on the land we are dealing with there is no 

 fertility to be destroyed. Lastly, the ashes which are pro- 

 duced are a manure peculiarly adapted for the crop which ex- 

 perience has taught the Lincolnshire farmers to make their first 

 crop on such land ; that crop is rape, a plant not generally grown 

 in this country. On such ground so prepared it shoots up with 

 unfailing luxuriance, resembling the tops of strongly growing 

 swedes, but forming a dense mass of dark leaves, about a yard 

 high^ through which it is difficult to make one's way. Although 

 peat may be well suited to the growth of rape, it is to the 

 peat-ashes I believe that the chief strength of its vegetation is 

 due. In fields where the soil is moory but not a pure peat, 

 when they have been pared and burnt in the same manner, a sin- 

 gular appearance presents itself which proves this point. On 

 the spots where the heaps have been burnt may be seen dark 

 tufts of rape growing in the vigorous manner already described. 

 On the rest of the ground you can hardly distinguish the pale blue 

 or purple dwindled plants of rape scarcely raising themselves 

 from the surface and choked with grass. This fact illustrates 

 in some degree the chemical laws of the food of plants ; for Dr. 

 Liebig states that peat-ashes contain a small proportion of potash : 

 I believe that the rape itself also contains potash : hence probably 

 the wonderful influence of peat-ashes upon its growth. There is 

 also a further circumstance which may be remarked ; the quan- 

 tity of ashes which thus occasions the difference between a strong 

 plant 3 feet high and a feeble weed of a few inches is very small : 

 but, of that small quantity, the potash and other salts which enter 

 into the composition of the plant and enable it to bring forth its 

 tall stem and broad leaves are still more minute : the ashes can- 

 not then be called the food of the plant ; they can only aid the 

 plant to make use of the other matters of which its vegetable 



VOL. II. 2 F 



