Improvement of Peahj Ground. 



413 



asked him therefore for specimens of the two substances. The 

 marl, which had entirely failed, proved to be a white tenacious 

 marl, consisting entirely of powdered lime, apparently unmixed 

 with any other description of earth. The blue clay, which had 

 succeeded, was in fact a marl also, containing a large quantity of 

 lime mixed with clay and fine sand. The peaty soil when mixed 

 with acid threw up bubbles copiously ; so that, as Dr. Buckland 

 had anticipated, it contained enough lime in its natural state. 

 In another part of the fens a white marl lies so near the surface 

 of the peat that it is purposely brought up by the plough, and 

 thereby forms what is locally called grey-land, a soil of known 

 fertility in that district. I am not aware whether this peat con- 

 tains lime naturally. 



But although we must remain for the present uncertain as to 

 the application of lime to peat, there are some rules w^hich those 

 who are desirous of reclaiming their peaty land may gather from 

 the practice of English farmers, to serve for their guidance until 

 further discoveries shall have been made. Peat must in the first 

 place be laid dry by open ditches, and further, where necessary, by 

 under-drains also. It may be pared and burned, and sown with 

 a shallow furrow (for all farmers agree that this first ploughing 

 should be shallow) to rape, swedes, or turnips — sovm early for the 

 reasons already given. It is next necessary that some other earth 

 should be laid on the peat ; if the subsoil be clay, that clay 

 should be brought up from wide trenches — if it be gravel or sand, 

 I would bring up a portion of it, however poor it may be : if clay 

 be near at hand, I would cart* it upon the peat. 



There is, however, some difficulty in carting clay upon peaty 

 ground, for the lumps of clay must be spread on the ground 

 and exposed to alternate frosts and thaws, expanding and con- 

 tracting them, which gradually breedc them down by the spring. 

 The peat, however, is generally so soft in winter, that it will 

 scarcely bear up a loaded cart, unless during a frost, so that the 

 work is often interrupted. The clods may also be reduced by 

 exposure to alternate drought and moisture in summer ; but this 

 is a less convenient time for carting the clay, and it must take 

 place on the rye-grass^ which is therefore lost. If spread in 



* I find, in a recent publication by Professor Johnston, of Durham Uni- 

 versity, that carting clay upon peat is also practised in Scotland. Professor 

 Johnston states " that Mr. Garden, of Glense House, near Dumfries, has 

 found it necessary to lay on a coating 6 inches thick, at an expense of 15/. 

 per acre. A coating of 2 or 3 inches on thei?' peat, he says, sinks down, 

 and in a few years descends beyond the reach of the plough ; and hence it 

 is more economical to lay on at once an entire soil of 6 inches.'' The labour 

 of this operation seems to me formidable. 



