412 



Improvement of Peaty Ground. 



per acre, then to lay tlie land down with grass-seeds to perma- 

 nent pasture. The grass is let yearly at sums varying from 3/. to 

 41. per acre. It is singular that in one field so treated, and after- 

 wards watered, no trace of the peat remained in the upper part of 

 the soil, which had become a pale-coloured earth — I suppose by 

 the entire destruction of the peaty substance. The grass on this 

 land is sweet and close, like the turf upon chalk downs, and the 

 land almost as firm. This land is on the same subsoil with Sir 

 Charles Monteith's, the grauwacke or shillet, an imperfect clay- 

 slate, which in Somersetshire, as in Scotland, is considered fa- 

 vourable to grass. 



It is proved then, by the success of farmers generally in the 

 fens of our eastern counties, of Sir Charles Monteith in Scotland, 

 and of Mr. Blake in West Somerset, that peat, which by nature 

 is the most unpromising of all wastes, can be profitably improved, 

 and even be raised to the rank of our most productive soils. 

 But, in order to effect this great benefit, it is considered neces- 

 sary that either clay or lime should be applied to the surface — 

 which, however, of the two is not certain. Finding this variety of 

 practice, I have endeavoured, in the course of drawing up this 

 statement, to obtain fresh evidence in order to clear up the point. 

 I cannot say that I have succeeded in clearing it up ; but the 

 facts which have come to my knowledge may serve as materials 

 for future inquiry, and I ought therefore to lay them shortly before 

 the Society. It occurred to me that, as the Lincolnshire farmers, 

 who had been so successful in the use of clay, had derived no 

 benefit from the use of lime, the Lincolnshire clay possibly con- 

 tained lime already. Mr. Cooke, at my request, sent me two speci- 

 mens of clay from Digby Fen : one of these, a very strong clay in 

 appearance, effervesced much with muriatic acid, and consisted 

 entirely of finely-powdered lime mixed with fine sand. It con- 

 tained, I believe, scarcely any true clay; it is, in fact, a strong blue 

 marl. The second specimen contained no lime at all, some true 

 clay, and a great deal of fine sand. Mr. Cooke stated, as I expected, 

 that the first specimen was a much more effective dressing than the 

 second : but I learn on the other hand from Mr. Handley, that a 

 clay resembling Mr. Cooke's second specimen had been used with 

 great success by a relative of his own ; and a clay of Mr. Win- 

 gate's, which I examined three years since, certainly contained no 

 lime at all. Lime, therefore, is not indispensable for the improve- 

 ment of some peat. Dr. Buckland suggested to me that such 

 peat may contain lime already ; and I have since found his con- 

 jecture perfectly right in the following instance. On my men- 

 tioning to Mr. Wingate that some of the Lincolnshire clay is in 

 fact marl, he replied that he had carted marl upon peat without 

 benefit, but had found clay to answer upon the same peat. I 



