414 Improvement of Peaty Ground. 



winter after rape or swedes, the clay is harrowed in dry spring- 

 weather, and ploughed in with a 2-inch furrow, or scarified. 

 I would on no account burn the surface again after it has been 

 spread, because it is well known that clay once brought to the 

 state of brick, however finely ground, never recovers its quality 

 of cohesion. 



It must be remembered, also, that there is a wide difference 

 among clays ; and, where the heavy expense of carting is incurred, 

 it is of course important to choose the most effective clay, in order 

 that a smaller bulk may be sufficient. The Lincolnshire plan 

 when tried here seemed at first to fail ; for it had the singular 

 effect of making a crop of swedes run up entirely to stalk, without 

 forming any bulb : the subsoil thrown up, however, turned out 

 not to be a true clay ; when dry it fell to pieces, and showed 

 itself to consist chiefly of a yellow limestone gravel, and sand. 

 Some marly clay applied to the same peat has evidently im- 

 proved the swedes. Clay for this purpose should be, I believe, 

 of the most solid and glutinous kind, so that, when it is dug, as 

 much, according to a farmer's expression, should come up on the 

 back as on the front of the spade. However wet the place from 

 which it is taken, it should feel solid when rolled in the hand : if 

 it be loose and liquid, it probably contains too much fine sand ; if 

 gritty, coarse sand. When tried in water, according to Mr. Rham's 

 process, it should not fall to pieces, but dissolve with great 

 difficulty, and should afterwards remain suspended in the water, 

 not letting fall much sediment of sand ; when dry, it should be 

 hard, compact, and rather smooth. If it throws up air-bubbles 

 on being mixed with an acid, I should like it the better. If no 

 clay is to be found, I would try carting sand. If, after these addi- 

 tions have been made to the soil, the corn still yields a lean grain, 

 I would try a dressing of quicklime, at the rate of 50 bushels per 

 acre, but in the first instance on a few acres only. Mr. Cooke 

 recommends bones for peat ; and I have found them answer m.y- 

 self. The second crop is oats. These, if sown late, are more 

 likely to escape the wireworm, and with that object, although the 

 practice of good farmers is divided as to the depth of ploughing, 

 I would also try shallow-ploughing. Rolling, pressing, and 

 treading with sheep, may be also necessary. In the Western 

 parts of England, however, where there is a greater tendency to 

 produce grass than corn, and where lime is an established ma- 

 nure, I should follow local experience by giving at once heavier 

 dressings of lime, and laying the peat dovm with the rape or 

 swedes to permanent pasture. Yet even there, though lime be 

 made the foundation of the improvement, I think it might be 

 worth the farmer's while to try whether the application of som.e 



