410 



Improvement of Peaty Ground. 



I do not quite agree with Mr. Johnson as to the application 

 of lime in the quantity of 250 or 300 bushels per acre, although 

 he has high authority in the theory of Sir Humphrey Davy ; not 

 that I so much doubt its efficacy as fear the expense, for, where 

 lime costs Ad. per bushel, there would be an expenditure for 

 lime alone of 4 guineas or bl. an acre, and at Qd. per bushel it 

 would reach 6/guineas and 71. 10s. — serious additions to the other 

 costs of improvement. Indeed, Sir Humphrey Davy's opinion, 

 that quicklime will dissolve peat, is now miuch doubted ; lime, too, 

 is generally applied not in a caustic but in a slaked state, and the 

 advantage of burning lime for farming purposes is by many sup- 

 posed to consist merely in its consequent reduction to a fine 

 powder. 



As this is a point, however, on which the farmers of one half of 

 England, the western side, would probably give an opposite 

 opinion to those on the eastern side, while in Lincolnshire a 

 most important improvement has been made \n\h clay only, and 

 lime has been often tried without any advantage, it is right 

 that I should now mention two instances of great success effected 

 by means of lime. For the first case I am indebted to Dr. 

 Buckland, on whose application Sir Charles Monteith furnished 

 to him the following account of some extensive operations on 

 peaty land in Scotland : — 



Edinburgh, Nov. 1th, 1841. 



" My dear Sir, — ^Itis the general opinion amongst improvers of peaty 

 soils that Hme is absolutely necessary to produce crops of grain well 

 filled with farina ; and I found from experience, in the improvement 

 of part of my peat-meadows in view of my house, that when the first 

 crop grown upon it was potatoes, well dunged but without lime, the 

 potatoes were found to he hollow in the heart of them and very watery, 

 while in other parts of the meadows upon which dung was employed 

 potatoes of a good quality were produced when lime was employed in 

 addition to the dung. 



" The farmers in Scotland think that they cannot raise good crops of 

 grain without lime, as the greatest part of the south of Scotland is com- 

 posed of new red sandstone, grauwacke, and granite, and therefore devoid 

 of lime, which forms a very considerable portion of every fertile soil ; 

 indeed it was found that the soil in Dumfriesshire did not produce well- 

 filled barley-crops till the farmers employed lime, which they now do to 

 a great extent, and find it equally useful for potatoes and turnip-crops, 

 which is amply testified by the farmers purchasing lime to the amount 

 of 3000/. annually from my lime-quarry at Close Farm. 



" You are correct in saying that a considerable part of my peat-bog 

 improvements have been made by lime alone, and have been productive of 

 very tolerable crops of hay. 1 have always considered peat more suitable 

 for crops of grass than corn. In addition to the lime I have commonly 

 employed 50 or 60 tons of sandy earth to the imperial acre of peat-bog. 



" I have improved about 200 acres of peat-bogs, the average not worth 



